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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29177388">While Mighty Oaks Do Fall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchofEndor/pseuds/WitchofEndor'>WitchofEndor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fire Hazard Siblings, Fire Sage Zuko AU, Found Family, Funny Hat Zuko AU, Gen, M/M, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Zuko is the Temple's Baby Nerd, canon-typical child abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:42:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>47,518</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29177388</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchofEndor/pseuds/WitchofEndor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>High Sage Kenji blesses Fire Prince Zuko with the resilience of the reed, who bends in the wind and never breaks. When he is done, Fire Prince Ozai narrows his eyes, seemingly displeased by this blessing. But Kenji does not speak for himself; he is only a vessel. </i>
</p><p>*</p><p>The newly-crowned Fire Lord Ozai offers his firstborn son to service in the temple. </p><p>This turns out to be a catastrophic mistake.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Zuko &amp; the Fire Sages</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2082</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>A:tla, Best of Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Fire I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractedKat/gifts">distractedKat</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is dedicated to distractedKat, because it wouldn't exist without her a) listening to my ranting, b) encouraging me to write it, and c) reading my essay-texts to her about the relationship between ATLA religious traditions and those of Planet Earth. </p><p>Also, many thanks to the tumblr community, who basically bullied into making it a reality (a-witch-in-endor.tumblr.com). </p><p> </p><p>The title is from Chaucer, kind of. The proverb is <i>a reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall</i>. The Chaucer version is a touch less understandable. </p><p>Also, extra warnings: Canon-typical child abuse, a little bit of weirdness around food and sleep (withholding food/sleep as punishment), and a <i>lot</i> of stuff around religion. If you're holding a lot of baggage around religion, you might want to tread carefully.</p><p> </p><p>What this story has that basically all of my stories have:<br/>1. A complicated Fire Hazard Sibling dynamic<br/>2. A bit of Zukka, for flavour (though shipping is not primary; this is a genfic)</p><p>What this story has that no other story of mine has ever had:<br/>1. Zuko wearing a funny hat </p><p> </p><p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>High Sage Kenji offers a blessing upon the occasions of the birth of each child born to the royal family. It is one of the many honours of his status, and one of the few honours that Kenji truly enjoys. Kenji is rarely called upon for any kind of officiating, because he is too high up in rank for anything but the most noble and important of matters. </p><p>Funerals are an honour, but they are a sad honour. For Kenji’s fellow sages, weddings can be a joy, but Kenji only has authority over royal weddings - and in Kenji’s experience, these have never been joyous affairs for the brides and grooms. Kenji has yet to officiate a coronation, because those are rare occurrences in a healthy system. </p><p>But the blessing of the newborn - this is a beautiful occasion. All infants are miracles unto the world, droplets of the heavens descended onto the earthly plane, the celestial made human. Children of Agni hold fire in their souls, and every royal child since the birth of the Fire Nation has been gifted with the spark. </p><p>Kenji blesses Fire Prince Lu Ten with strength of body and strength of will. The words are ancient, but they are unplanned. The blessing of a High Sage must come from the fire and heart, not from the script. </p><p>Kenji blesses Fire Prince Zuko with the resilience of the reed, who bends in the wind and never breaks. When he is done, Fire Prince Ozai narrows his eyes, seemingly displeased by this blessing. But Kenji does not speak for himself; he is only a vessel. </p><p>Kenji blesses Fire Princess Azula with command, power, and strength. As the words leave him, Kenji wonders how these three terms are different. The word of Agni is never contradictory, but it is also never superfluous. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>High Sage Kenji’s first coronation takes place amidst political upheaval. </p><p>High Sage Kenji is not crowning Crown Prince Iroh. Prince Iroh is lost in grief for poor Prince Lu Ten. It seems that, unbeknownst to the sages, Fire Lord Azulon privately declared Prince Ozai his successor. </p><p>Prince Ozai was never bestowed with the title of Crown Prince. </p><p>The sages are not happy. There is grumbling in the court. But Ozai has papers from his father declaring that Prince Iroh’s lack of heirs should cause issue with the line of succession. Should Fire Lord Azulon die before Crown Prince Iroh has secured his lineage, Prince Ozai should be declared the new Fire Lord. </p><p>It is unorthodox. But the Fire Sages bow to the will of the Fire Lord, as is their custom. And these are the words of the Fire Lord, written in the Fire Lord’s hand and sealed with the Fire Lord’s seal. </p><p>High Sage Kenji does not like it, but he also has no leg to stand on. And Prince Ozai knows this. </p><p>“I must take this matter through the council,” Kenji insists, standing tall before the future Fire Lord. “Once the Council of the High Temple has convened, we can seal the matter.” </p><p>Prince Ozai is already sitting on the throne. It is unorthodox, but only in matters of custom. He is not obligated to leave the throne vacant, not when he is the presumed heir. </p><p>“That’s such a long time,” Prince Ozai complains. “It will take days for you to gather the Great Sages. You know as well as I do, Kenji, that the throne needs to be secured.”</p><p>Prince Ozai is not wrong. A bare throne is a sign of weakness. </p><p>“It is in the Fire Nation’s best interests,” Prince Ozai continues, “for me to be crowned today.” </p><p>Prince Ozai is not wrong. </p><p>“What can I do to convince you?” </p><p>High Sage Kenji stands and thinks back over the law. He raises a hand to indicate that he is contemplating the factors.</p><p>Yes, this is a case of doubt regarding the line of succession. In cases of doubt regarding succession, one must rule strictly. </p><p>However, this is also wartime. The High Sage is entrusted with leniency in rulings during a time of war, and while Kenji might prefer to avoid using this logic in a century-long war, it is a tool at his disposal. It is also a moment with an empty throne. Usurpers and attackers may well be waiting in the wings. That makes this ruling a potential case of great upheaval, even life and death. </p><p>High Sage Kenji believes that he will be able to successfully argue before the Council of the High Temple that this is a valid ruling. </p><p>“Furthermore,” Prince Ozai continues, “I would like to offer you a… token of goodwill. A gesture of the trust and faith I put into the sages of our great tradition. A method to bind us more tightly than we have ever been.”</p><p>Prince Ozai’s words ring false. His wording is deliberately chosen to appeal to Kenji, and his meaning is empty: the Fire Lord cannot be held more tightly to the religious order than ever before, because it was a historical truth that the High Sage <em> was </em>the Fire Lord.</p><p>Nonetheless, curiosity sparks in Kenji’s soul.</p><p>“I shall of course gladly accept your token,” Kenji responds. </p><p>Prince Ozai smiles with his teeth. “Good,” he responds. “I think you will be most pleased. The gift I give you… is my firstborn son.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Prince Zuko is eleven years old when he loses one title and gains another.</p><p>The youngest Fire Sage in all of history was in his forties when he joined the order. When High Sage Kenji crowns Fire Lord Ozai, it is with the assumption that the sages must determine the minimum age for initiation as a Fire Sage, and must wait for Prince Zuko to be reared in the palace. They will take over the boy’s education, of course, and will welcome him as a regular guest, but surely the boy must be a man before entering into service at the temple.</p><p>Fire Lord Ozai does not seem to have the same plans. Upon hearing Kenji’s assumption, the Fire Lord insists that Kenji take the child now. </p><p>It is absurd, of course, to raise a child in the temple. It is almost as absurd as the idea of a child taking the vow. Being reborn in fire means severing all familial connections from beforehand. Some Fire Sages retain their marriages, but that is only by recreating their marriage vows after their rebirth. There is no such method for reestablishing connections with the family one was born into.</p><p>But Fire Lord Ozai isn’t technically wrong. There is no minimum age for entry into the service, and there is no technical ruling against having a child raised in the temple.</p><p>(And Kenji thought his child-rearing days were far behind him.)</p><p>Prince Zuko arrives the day after the coronation. He shakes like a leaf in the wind, and Kenji is reminded, abruptly, of the blessing that he gave to this boy when he was an infant. </p><p>“You will join the order on the solstice,” Kenji explains. The boy does not look up at him. “Until then, Fire Sage Matsu will show you to your new rooms. They will not be as… delicate as your previous lodgings.” Still, the boy does not raise his eyes. “You will turn to Fire Sage Matsu for practical questions. Fire Sage Tatsuya will be in charge of your regular education. This will include language, logic, history, and exegesis. This week, Fire Sage Tatsuya will also prepare you for your ritual immersion and your vows.”</p><p>Prince Zuko - because he is still Prince Zuko, at least for the coming week - does not respond. He bows his head again. At least Kenji can be assured that he is listening.</p><p>“I will be in charge of your deeper questions,” Kenji explains. “I will not tutor you in the facts of history or the intricacies of the texts. But should you require a deeper understanding of our tradition than you are receiving, you shall not hesitate to request my time.” </p><p>Prince Zuko looks up for a moment. He looks lost. “Can I… High Sage…?”</p><p>“High Sage Kenji,” Kenji corrects him. “We are careful to use titles properly in this holy space, but you need not shy from my given name.” </p><p>Prince Zuko nods. “High Sage Kenji,” he corrects himself. “Can I ask you why I am here?” </p><p>Kenji’s eyebrows pull in. “Do you not understand? You are to be a Fire Sage.” </p><p>Prince Zuko swallows. “I understand that,” he explains. “But I don’t understand-- I don’t understand why. Mom is gone, and Father is the Fire Lord, and now I have to go, too?”</p><p>It has been so long since Kenji has been faced with a child for more than a ritual or a ruling. But Kenji raised two boys to adulthood. He does remember that there was a time in which they didn’t understand where their feet would fall each time they lifted them.</p><p>“You are to be reborn, Prince Zuko,” Kenji explains as gently as he can manage. “When you step out of the fire, you will no longer be a prince. Your previous familial ties will be broken in law and in spirit. You will no longer need to worry for your familial relationships, for they shall no longer exist. You will exist instead for the service of the Fire Nation.” </p><p>Tears spring to the boy’s eyes. Kenji is startled. </p><p>“I’ll be alone?” Prince Zuko asks. “My father doesn’t… want me to be his son anymore?”</p><p>“You will spend your life in the High Temple,” Kenji explains. “You will not be alone; you will be with your brothers in service. As for your father: he has given you as a gift. A gesture of goodwill. A… token.” </p><p>This does not appear to be a comfort to the child. A tear escapes his eye and trickles down his cheek, to be wiped hastily away. </p><p>“A token,” Prince Zuko repeats. “Yes. I understand.” </p><p>“Then you shall spend this next week in preparation,” Kenji closes. “I shall see you at meals and offerings. You will not hesitate to ask for my attention, should you need it.”</p><p>Something bothers Kenji for the rest of the day. He feels that there is something else he was supposed to offer, something aside from education and preparation and a room that a child of eleven years might need. But it has been so long since the children who were once his were boys, and Ahmya truly did most of the work in providing for their non-material needs. </p><p>Kenji thinks about writing to Ahmya for advice, but quickly quenches the urge. Ahmya had not wished to renew their vows when Kenji shed himself of previous attachments. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Kenji inspects Prince Zuko for his immersion. The child is wrapped in a robe for privacy. The robe will be shed on his descent into the fire, at the point at which he can no longer be witnessed. Then, it was only be Zuko and the flames.</p><p>His hair is loose, washed, and brushed. He wears no jewelry. His skin is clean. </p><p>“Hands,” Kenji calls, and Prince Zuko raises his hands. They are empty. His nails have been cleaned. </p><p>He is physically prepared. </p><p>“Do you understand the implications of the vow you will recite upon ascending from the fire?” Kenji asks. Prince Zuko states his affirmation. The boy’s jaw is tense; he doesn’t look like he’s ready to cry anymore. “Has someone parsed each word in the vow with you, and do you understand each syllable?”</p><p>“Yes,” Prince Zuko responds. </p><p>“Do you understand that this is irreversible? A Fire Sage may fall to heresy, but he will always be beholden to the obligations of his station.”</p><p>“Yes,” Prince Zuko responds. His voice wavers. </p><p>High Sage Kenji gives the boy a moment to catch his breath. He does not seem scared of the fire, but Kenji recalls the weight of this moment. </p><p>“When you are ready, Prince Zuko,” he says, “you may descend into the fire.”</p><p>The Fire Prince turns his face toward the flames. He draws a deep breath. It does not waver.</p><p>Prince Zuko begins to walk down the stone steps into the holy fire. When he is only visible from the shoulders up, he shrugs off the dark robe and continues. </p><p>Soon, there is no sign of the boy in the flames. But the fire roars out its knowledge of the child within it. </p><p>High Sage Kenji waits as a silent witness. </p><p>The sages behind him begin to chant out their prayers. </p><p>
  <em> A life of service. A life of health. A life of service. A life of strength. A life of service. A life of honour. A life of service.  </em>
</p><p>The sages give their offerings of hope. High Sage Kenji bears witness to them all.</p><p>Eventually, the fire begins to slow. The sages cannot see more than the tops of the flames from here, and soon, they disappear below the wall, and all the sages can witness is the glow of light. A few more moments, and the glow is down to almost nothing.</p><p>There is a shuffling sound as the boy approaches the stairs again. Then the top of his head appears, and then his bare shoulders. He waits there, face visible, as he recites the ancient words. </p><p>The fire has burned away everything over the skin. Not a single hair remains; not a single eyelash. This is good. Not every sage is accepted so readily by the fire. </p><p>When the vow is complete, Kenji offers the sign of the flame. </p><p>“Welcome, Fire Sage Zuko.” </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Sometimes, having an eleven-year-old Fire Sage reminds Kenji of raising a toddler. </p><p>It seems that Fire Sage Zuko cannot be satisfied with any one answer. Each ‘why’ only leads to another, until Kenji simply deposits the boy in the library and says: “Find the answers for yourself.”</p><p>This, it turns out, is a masterful move. </p><p>Zuko’s questions cease briefly, turning to technical questions he can aim toward Fire Sage Tatsuya. Within a year, Zuko is back at Kenji’s heels, but his questions are much better. </p><p>“Fire Sage Tatsuya can explain this to you,” stops being Kenji’s go-to answer. </p><p>Zuko is still a child, and still lacks an adult’s intuition with the deeper meaning of many of the scriptures, but he will read anything that is put before him. Zuko has all but memorised the Fire Scriptures in his first year, and he has a knack for the intricacies of grammar. </p><p>His questions improve. His nature does not. </p><p>Fire Sage Zuko develops a poor temper. He goes from calm to blisteringly angry in sheer moments. Kenji isn’t sure if this is normal, but he arranges for more meditation in an attempt to rebalance the child. </p><p>And while Zuko is generally good with rules, he also develops a tendency to question them. He wants sources for every single ruling, even rulings which are far beyond his capacity to understand. And while this isn’t exactly worrying - a healthy appetite for questioning is a good building block for the ability to make rulings - this healthy questioning accelerates due to the presence of the Fire Princess.</p><p>“The Fire Princess came to request you today,” Kenji informs Zuko. Zuko looks up from his meal with a frown. “This is her third attempted visit. I must remind you, Fire Sage Zuko, that this relationship is unbefitting of your station.”</p><p>“It’s unbefitting to have a sister?” Zuko asks. </p><p>“You have no sisters,” Kenji reminds him, trying to be gentle. Zuko flinches a little anyway. “Since the Fire Princess is <em> not </em> your sister, this appears to be a request for counsel. And you may not provide counsel for the royal family without obtaining permission to do so.” </p><p>Zuko’s eyes narrow. “And how do I obtain that permission?”</p><p>“You will have to do enough studying that you could provide moral and religious support for a person of the Fire Princess’s station,” Kenji explains.</p><p>He does not intend this to be a challenge.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Fire Sage Zuko was impressive prior to Kenji’s accidental challenge. He becomes something else entirely in its aftermath. </p><p>It seems that every time Kenji requires Zuko, he is in the libraries. The only regular exception to this is that the boy gets into the habit of dragging volumes into the Room of the Broken, to sit himself among the shards while he studies.</p><p>“Is it permitted for him to use the Room of the Broken this way?” Tatsuya asks. It’s not a question that Kenji has ever been asked before, because nobody has ever tried to use the Room of the Broken for anything but storing shards of pottery and shreds of parchment including Agni’s holy name. “I suppose I could ask Fire Sage Zuko that, as a test, to show that he can source the answer.”</p><p>Kenji smiles. “Please ensure that he remembers to eat and meditate,” he requests. “And… you can begin the formal testing soon, should you feel he is capable.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko’s first rulings do not go well.</p><p>Zuko stands before the public with a glare on his face. It seems that every other sentence Zuko utters is followed by him reaching up to fuss at his ceremonial hat. Zuko shouts at a man for lack of honour, and just when Kenji is about to intercede, Zuko spouts off his legal reasoning for asserting this lack of honour. </p><p>It’s good legal reasoning, but poor execution. </p><p>Zuko is only twelve years old. </p><p>“He lacks an ability to talk to people,” Tatsuya comments from beside Kenji. “I fear that allowing him to sequester himself in the libraries and the Room of the Broken have only exacerbated this. He’s a child; perhaps he should have been socialising.” </p><p>“His legal reasoning is excellent,” Kenji responds. “His use of the example of the house built around a stolen beam was… inspired.” </p><p>“He’s also angry,” Tatsuya continues. “I’m not sure any amount of meditation is going to cure him of that ill.” </p><p>Before them, Zuko comes to a legal conclusion. He also tells a woman that she should be ashamed of herself. Kenji controls his features and very carefully does not wince. </p><p>“He requested an ability to counsel Fire Princess Azula,” Kenji says. “If the princess does not mind his lack of social manners or his temper… technically, his legal and moral reasoning is sound enough that I would not disallow it.”</p><p>Tatsuya turns to face Kenji. “You know he requests this because he sees himself as her brother,” he points out. “He’s a child. He does not yet understand the gravity of what he has left behind.” </p><p>Kenji sighs. </p><p>Kenji has spent enough time in the presence of Fire Princess Azula to know that if anybody is able to convince Fire Sage Zuko that he has no family, it will be her. She might even do it intentionally, for fun. </p><p>“So be it.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Kenji allows the Fire Princess in on her next visit. </p><p>By the time she leaves, Zuko is in tears. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The Fire Princess returns weeks later. Kenji would like to turn her away, because Zuko looked withdrawn for days at her last visit. But now that there is an established counselling relationship, he has no right to do so. </p><p>What Kenji can do is this:</p><p>He can pass by the Room of the Broken where they are speaking (a most unorthodox choice of meeting rooms, but not technically inappropriate), just long enough to hear a snippet of conversation: </p><p>
  <em> “I did tell you that nobody but Mom ever wanted you at home anyway…”  </em>
</p><p>It’s childish and meaningless. But Zuko is a child, so childish things are sometimes meaningful to him.</p><p>The next time Kenji has a meeting set with Prince Iroh, he allows Prince Iroh to arrange it to happen at the temple. Thus far, Kenji has been avoiding this, as he thought that any connection with Zuko’s former family would only confuse him further. But now that Zuko is seeing Princess Azula, it appears that there is damage to be undone.</p><p>Prince Iroh’s relief at finally being able to enter the areas of the temple not intended for public prayer is palpable. It is also proof that Prince Iroh, too, does not understand the severing of this relationship. </p><p>If Kenji were ever accused of being soft on Zuko, he would have a difficult time arguing his case against it.</p><p>Kenji allows Zuko to sit in on the meeting. </p><p>He hasn’t seen Zuko this excited in all the long months of his life in the High Temple. Kenji has seen Zuko frenzied with the excitement of good study, lost in the midst of a legal argument that he knows he’s going to win, but never like this. Never filled with hope and wonder. </p><p>Fire Prince Iroh enters the room, and his face crumples in delight at the view of Fire Sage Zuko. </p><p>Zuko stands like he’s going to approach Prince Iroh, and Kenji holds out a hand to stop him. Zuko looks at Kenji’s hand for a long moment, and then visibly deflates. </p><p>Zuko cannot offer greetings. It is not his turn to speak. </p><p>“Fire Prince Iroh,” Kenji says, offering a shallow bow to the prince. Their stations are technically parallel; any lower a bow would be an insult to the Fire Sages, but any less of a bow would be an insult to the station of royalty. </p><p>“High Sage Kenji,” Prince Iroh responds, offering his own bow. He then turns toward the boy who was once his nephew. “Am I free to offer greetings to our guest?”</p><p>Kenji offers a small smile. “Of course.”</p><p>Prince Iroh turns to Fire Sage Zuko and bows, entirely properly. “Fire Sage Zuko. It is… a pleasure to behold you again. You look well.” </p><p>“Un--Um.” Zuko offers a hasty bow. It’s too low for his station, but Kenji thinks that it’s just sloppiness, not a deliberate slight. “Fire Prince Iroh.” </p><p>He doesn’t say anything more, and Kenji doesn’t press him to. He assumes that simply being in Prince Iroh’s presence will calm the boy. But later, when the meeting is wrapping up and Kenji turns back to Zuko in an attempt to prompt whatever goodbye he might wish to make, it’s to find that Zuko’s expression is drawn in. He’s staring at Prince Iroh, but it isn’t with any kind of relief or affection. The frenzied hope from before has died.</p><p>“Goodbye, Fire Sage Zuko,” Prince Iroh says. “I am so pleased to see that you are well.”</p><p>Zuko offers a smile with his bow, but it seems strained. “And to you, Prince Iroh.” </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Fire Sage Zuko gets better at taking requests and giving counsel. </p><p>He’s still stiff and awkward before the crowd, in a way that Kenji wouldn’t have expected from a boy who was once a prince. Though, Kenji reflects, he was probably asked to do little public speaking when he was a part of the royal family, and certainly not because anyone cared for his opinion. Nowadays, people come to seek advice from the temple, and they listen carefully to Fire Sage Zuko’s responses.</p><p>The boy is still rough around the edges. His anger flares at the concept of ‘unfair’ more than once. Sometimes, he exercises poor impulse control over his wording; often, he has poor control over his inner flame.</p><p>But Fire Sage Zuko offers excellent counsel. His rulings are as legally creative and thoughtful as they are compassionate. And that is the reason that people request to see him.</p><p>(He may still not offer counsel to anyone from the royal family but the Fire Princess. Kenji has tried suggesting that he test to a higher level and gain access to private meetings with Prince Iroh, but Zuko’s excitement and hope at spending time with the Fire Prince dwindled in that first meeting and did not return.)</p><p>The sages have to choose particular days and times for Fire Sage Zuko to offer counsel to regular people. This is not a usual setup; any sage should be available at any of the times the doors to the temple are open for counsel. But eventually, even Kenji gets tired of the walk from the Chamber of Counsel to the Room of the Broken to retrieve their youngest sage, and thus a system is born. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Fire Sage Zuko offers excellent counsel, and his legal reasoning causes pride to swell in High Sage Kenji’s chest. </p><p>Fire Sage Zuko is also deeply, deeply dangerous.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“High Sage Kenji, I have some questions.” This has been a fairly common statement for years now. But this afternoon, Zuko looks different. Usually, when something isn’t making sense, Zuko develops a tension in his shoulders that will only be released when Zuko manages to unwind the logical knot in the law.</p><p>Today, he seems uncomfortable in a different way. He won’t meet Kenji’s eyes, which is a habit Kenji thought the sages had coaxed from him well over a year ago.</p><p>“Of course,” Kenji says. “I have two meetings, and then I will find you.”</p><p>Kenji finds Zuko in the Room of the Broken. He’s here more often than the libraries, nowadays. Kenji thinks that Zuko prefers this space because he is only disturbed when it is deliberate.</p><p>Kenji brings tea with him, because the child clearly needs some kind of soothing. Zuko’s face relaxes a little at the tea, and he even offers a smile. </p><p>“I am glad to see that you are wearing your glasses,” Kenji offers. Zuko pushes the glasses off his face in direct rebellion, and Kenji holds down his smile. “What did you want to ask me?”</p><p>Zuko folds his glasses and places them on his hat, which is sitting on the floor beside him. Kenji gave up this particular fight years ago. Almost as soon as Zuko’s hair began to grow in again, Zuko has refused to wear the hat when it isn’t directly necessary. Having the hat with him at all times is the best compromise they have been able to meet.</p><p>(Last time Kenji had tried to convince Zuko to don the ceremonial hat outside of ceremony, Zuko quoted six different texts about the laws of hat-wearing. He would have continued, but Kenji was overcome with weariness. He is much too old to be raising a child approaching puberty, let alone a precocious thirteen-year-old sage.)</p><p>“I have been researching the relationship between the Fire Lord and the Fire Sages,” he explains. “To… offer better counsel.” </p><p>Kenji doubts this. Princess Azula still turns up from time to time, but Kenji has yet to hear her ask for counsel. As far as he can tell, the princess simply enjoys reminding Zuko that he isn’t a prince anymore. </p><p>“And what have you found?”</p><p>“It’s an elegant system,” Zuko allows. “It’s wise to have a system that balances itself. And since the Fire Lord is no longer the head of the Fire Sages, the system is very carefully constructed to ensure that everyone is accountable to someone else, and we are all accountable to Agni.”</p><p>Kenji sits patiently and drinks his tea.</p><p>“And,” Zuko concludes, “it’s not working.”</p><p>Kenji hesitates. “Not working?”</p><p>“No,” Zuko states. He is looking at one of the books now, and Kenji isn’t sure if he’s looking for information, or if he’s just avoiding Kenji’s eyes. “It looks like it fell apart when my great-- when Fire Lord Sozin started the war. He didn’t wait for permission from the High Sage.”</p><p>“Times of war have their own legal standing,” Kenji reminds Zuko, surprised that the child would forget this.</p><p>Zuko looks up from the book. “But Sozin <em> started </em> the war,” he points out. “You can’t claim it’s a wartime ruling to <em> make it </em>wartime. That’s in direct contradiction to the Fourth Council of Greats. You can’t use circular logic in order to give yourself power. It also contradicts the Ichika Principle--” </p><p>“Fire Sage Zuko--”</p><p>“And furthermore,” Zuko continues, having worked himself up now, “the rules about wartime decisions were <em> clearly </em> put in place with the assumption that the moment is fleeting. There are all kinds of decisions we’re making while using the excuse of wartime standing, as if we don’t have the time or resources to do better, but that’s not true. We’re winning the war, and it’s peaceful in Caldera City. It’s a farce.”</p><p>Silence follows in Zuko’s wake. </p><p>Kenji leans forward and closes the book. </p><p>“Fire Sage Zuko,” he says, quiet but forceful. “There are rulings from Fire Sages that come before us that we must respect. This is a time of war, even if our ancestors did not foresee a war lasting this long.” </p><p>Zuko is already shaking his head. “No council for the last century has declared itself properly. I know you know this, because <em> you </em> keep calling them improperly. And I know why you’re doing it. It’s because you know that the system isn’t working as intended.”</p><p>“Zuko.” Kenji’s voice is sharp, and it makes Zuko sit back. “You will not speak like this in this temple, or anywhere else. You are a boy of thirteen. You do not have the ranking, nor the insight born of experience, to question this. The logic stands.” </p><p>“But High Sage--” </p><p>“Is the logic unsound?” Kenji presses. “Remove your feelings from the matter. Stop thinking of the intentions of those who wrote the law. Stop thinking of <em> yourself. </em> Is the <em> logic </em> unsound?”</p><p>Zuko breathes for several moments. He isn’t meeting Kenji’s eyes. </p><p>Eventually, he nods. “The logic is sound.” </p><p>“Good,” Kenji responds. “Now, add this to your sound logic: Should the Fire Lord wish, he could remove the Fire Sages entirely.”</p><p>“That’s against the--”</p><p>“I don’t mean legally.” Kenji leans down so that he can encourage eye contact. “Child, in war, might makes right. Our tradition lives by the grace of the Fire Lord. Should we step too far out of line, all of this will be lost. All of our reasoning, all of our scriptures, all of the beauty of the worship of Agni.” </p><p>“But that isn’t how it’s supposed to work,” Zuko insists. “We’re supposed to be weighted equally. There’s supposed to be no palace without the temple, and no temple without the palace.” </p><p>Kenji sighs. He feels much older than his years, and his years are many. </p><p>“There is one sign of hope here,” he says. When Zuko looks to him with an inquisitive expression, Kenji clarifies: “You.” </p><p>“Me?”</p><p>“The Fire Lord gave you to us as a gift,” Kenji explains. “You are a token of his relationship with us. You were once his firstborn son. That is a stronger bond than we have had between us since long before the war began.” </p><p>Zuko nods once, decisively. “I understand.” </p><p>“And Zuko.” Kenji reaches out to touch the boy’s forearm. “Do not bring this up to anyone else.” </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko stands tall before the Fire Lord.</p><p>He has not technically sought permission from the High Sage for this meeting. But if the High Sage is so quick to use the excuse of wartime decision-making, then Zuko thinks that the matter of the 41st Division deserves this. </p><p>“It is bold of you to take my time, Fire Sage,” the Fire Lord states. </p><p>Zuko swallows. </p><p>“I am here to present counsel,” Zuko states. </p><p>The Fire Lord raises an eyebrow. “I don’t recall requesting counsel,” he says, “and I certainly don’t recall requesting it from <em> you.”  </em></p><p>Zuko stands up straighter. “Nonetheless, as a Fire Sage of the High Temple, it is my duty to offer my counsel when I have been led to understand that an immoral political decision is being pushed through the system without reaching either of our stations.”</p><p>Fire Lord Ozai’s eyes narrow, but he looks more curious than angry. “Gossip?”</p><p>“I have been led to understand that one of your war advisors has suggested sacrificing a battalion of new recruits for advantage in battle.” </p><p>Zuko hasn’t felt so uncomfortable in his official garb for years. The hat is tall and ridiculous, but he mostly only has to wear it when he is facing the public - but even then, the hat has never felt so heavy, the robes have never felt so stiff, as in this moment.</p><p>“I fear this must have escaped your notice. You would have been obligated to present this before the sages, who would have of course overruled the decision. It is immoral, and it runs against multiple areas of our religious law and tradition. I would be happy to cite--” </p><p>“There is no need.” </p><p>A long silence stretches before them. </p><p>Eventually, Fire Lord Ozai sighs. “Boy,” he states, standing from the throne. He walks through the flames and descends until he is standing in front of Zuko. “I fear you have misunderstood.” </p><p>The relief is so sudden that it almost knocks Zuko from his feet.</p><p>“Oh,” he says. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. Was the information wrong--” </p><p>“Zuko.” Zuko looks up at his fa-- at the Fire Lord. “Not about the 41st Division. I fear that you have misunderstood this arrangement.” </p><p>Zuko tilts his head, and then rebalances so that the hat doesn’t tip over. </p><p>“You mean… You sending me to the sages?” </p><p>He can’t help the hope creeping into his voice. He can’t hold it back. After Princess Azula’s regular taunting, and Prince Iroh’s careful coldness, is it really going to be the Fire Lord who tells Zuko that he hasn’t been banished from his family entirely? </p><p>Zuko takes a hesitant step forward. </p><p>“I mean your place as a <em> sage,” </em>Ozai states. “You are not some wise old man to give me advice - and even if you were, it would only be when I seek it. You answer to me.” </p><p>Cold sweeps down Zuko’s spine.</p><p>This isn’t right.</p><p>“You all answer to me,” the Fire Lord continues. “I am the presence of Agni on earth, am I not? And you are Agni’s worshippers. I rule over you.”</p><p>“That’s not how this--” </p><p>“You do <em> not </em> insult the station of the Fire Lord by turning up unannounced,” the Fire Lord says, voice creeping louder. “You may not break these rules simply because you were once my son. You are nothing, and you will learn to act that way.”</p><p>Zuko struggles to breathe properly. The Fire Lord is too close. </p><p>“Bow.” </p><p>“What?” </p><p>Nothing is making sense. Zuko doesn’t like it when nothing makes sense. </p><p>“Bow, child,” the Fire Lord spits. “On your knees before me.”</p><p>“Fire Sages are not permitted to bow low to the Fire Lord, lest we turn him into an idol,” Zuko rattles off. </p><p>Ozai sneers. “I don’t care about what you think you’re <em> allowed </em> to do. Your Fire Lord gave you a direct order. <em> On your knees.”  </em></p><p>Anger flashes. </p><p>“I will not,” Zuko argues. “You made me a Fire Sage, and I will not desecrate my vows on your whim. This is not how the relationship between the palace and the temple is supposed to be. <em> I will not bow.”  </em></p><p>The Fire Lord raises a hand, and some old instinct in Zuko tries to flinch away. He raises his arms to protect his face - but it isn’t fire, and this isn’t training. Ozai grasps Zuko’s forearm, hard, and pushes downwards. </p><p>“I will not bow!” Zuko all but shouts.</p><p>Ozai’s hand heats. Pain flares. </p><p>“I will not bow,” Zuko says again, but it sounds less convincing this time.</p><p>Ozai’s fire is so strong. Zuko doesn’t burn easily, but this kind of force for this long, at this close a range-- </p><p>Zuko feels his flesh sizzling under the Fire Lord’s hand.</p><p>“I will not,” Zuko tries again, but he can’t get out the rest of the sentence.</p><p>It hurts so <em> much.  </em></p><p>If Father doesn’t let go soon, will he burn all the way down to bone?</p><p>“I,” Zuko tries, and then his knees buckle.</p><p>It takes him long moments of harsh breathing to realise what he has done. He’s on his knees before the Fire Lord.</p><p>“Good boy,” Ozai says, and then turns and walks away.</p><p>Darkness rushes in. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko wakes up in the Fire Temple on Crescent Island. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Air I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This AU is just such fun. I have fallen down multiple rabbit holes. Pretty much nothing here is made up - it's all either based on canon, based on real world religion, or some mixture of the two. Feel free to ask about anything that you're curious about!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>High Sage Kenji restrains his impulses. It is not his place to make demands, much as this fact might infuriate him.</p><p>“There is no method for dismissing a Fire Sage,” High Sage Kenji reminds the Fire Lord and his advisors. “Once a man or woman has accepted the vow, the vow is binding upon them until their soul leaves their body.”</p><p>“The punishment for heresy is death, is it not?” the Fire Lord asks.</p><p>Kenji tempers down his anger.</p><p>“The punishment for <em> high heresy, </em>which is a form of treason, is execution,” he accepts. “But nothing you have said has indicated anything close. It is unclear to me whether you are accusing Fire Sage Zuko of heresy or blasphemy. Perhaps you would like to revisit the story, and I shall determine the precise accusation?”</p><p>The Fire Lord stares, and it is a clear attempt to stare him down.</p><p>High Sage Kenji stands tall and stares right back. </p><p>His sages are behind him, minus one. They, the Fire Lord’s advisors, and the guards, have heard the Fire Lord’s accusation. He can add details if he wishes, but it is clear to Kenji that Fire Lord Ozai does not know the definition of heresy, let alone high heresy, and so any attempt at that accusation would be a stab in the dark. </p><p>“Then tell me, Kenji,” the Fire Lord says, “what is the punishment for insulting the station of the Fire Lord, disgracing the station of the sages, and acting without honour?”</p><p>Kenji feels the sages shift behind him. </p><p>The truth is that the sages know Zuko better than the Fire Lord. They have spent two years raising this child, and Kenji isn’t certain that the Fire Lord spent any time raising him at all. The sages have guided this child carefully in the ways of their glorious tradition.</p><p>Fire Sage Zuko would not disgrace his station, or insult the station of the Fire Lord. He knows the rules, rituals, and gestures, and he executes them - for the most part - flawlessly. And as if that accusation wasn’t damning enough…</p><p>Zuko would <em> never </em> act without honour. </p><p>There are accusations that Kenji would believe. The boy has a temper problem that his meditation barely restrains. He has had more than one ranking officer make a formal complaint about his colourful language choices. He will only follow rules once they have been adequately sourced, and will utilise loopholes to his own advantage without shame. Zuko might even be on the verge of heresy, were it not for a carefully guiding hand… </p><p>And just like that, Kenji knows exactly what is happening.</p><p>The child had brought his concerns about the proper balance of power between the palace and the temple, and Kenji thought the issue was resolved. Kenji thought he had answered adequately by demonstrating the soundness of the logic, thought he had appealed to Zuko’s legal reasoning. But Zuko is a child of thirteen. He does not understand the danger he puts himself in by pointing to the imbalance; he sees only the injustice of the imbalance itself.</p><p>Heresy, indeed. Fire Sage Zuko has looked the Fire Lord in the eyes and told him that their glorious tradition is not being upheld. Zuko told the Fire Lord that he must relinquish power to create balance. Zuko, who once had a claim on the Fire Lord’s throne. Zuko, to whom the people keep coming for moral and legal advice, even though he is a child, even though he has referred to more than one of them in unflattering terms to their faces. </p><p>(The sages have spent so long teaching Zuko to use logical reasoning in matters of law. But Kenji has failed to teach him to <em> think.) </em></p><p>“He must be re-educated,” Kenji offers. “He is just a child. I can--”</p><p>“You have done enough,” the Fire Lord interrupts. “He has enjoyed too much freedom as a Sage of the High Temple. We will have him sent somewhere. A temple that won’t be so <em> soft </em>on him.” </p><p>Kenji keeps his head high as he leaves the palace.</p><p>The sages remain quiet behind him until they are in private again, sequestered in the High Temple and one sage short.</p><p>“High Sage Kenji,” Fire Sage Kei says, turning to face him. Fire Sage Kei’s face is lined in disapproval.</p><p>He doesn’t say anything more, and neither do the rest of the sages. They are teetering on the edge of something dangerous here. It is entirely possible that their disapproval of the treatment of one boy could tear this whole temple down to its foundations. </p><p>“Fire Sage Kei,” Kenji responds as calmly as he can. “Please ensure that the boy’s robes are sent with him, and that a healer accompanies him on the journey to… to tend to the wound.” </p><p>The sages pretend that Kenji did not hesitate. </p><p>Fire Sage Kei stares at Kenji for a long moment, and Kenji is reminded of the way the Fire Lord had looked at him. And then finally, Fire Sage Kei nods and turns to fulfil his duties. </p><p>“High Sage Kenji.” It’s Fire Sage Tatsuya this time. Tatsuya was in charge of the child’s education; he would know better than anyone what lines Zuko might walk over. “The Fire Lord burned him.” </p><p>If Zuko were here, Kenji knows what he would say. He would turn to the passages in the Fire Scriptures about the infliction of violence, and then to the legal cases of violence against Fire Sages specifically, and finally, to the rights and responsibilities of the station of the Fire Lord. Zuko is so unapologetic in his rulings that Kenji wonders if he would accuse the Fire Lord of treason. </p><p>(He might even bring in side cases that don’t seem relevant and then paint a portrait of how they guide decision-making. Those moments of legal creativity cannot be predicted. It’s one of Kenji’s favourite things about watching over Zuko in counsel.)</p><p>“Yes,” High Sage Kenji agrees, because this is a fact that cannot be refuted. </p><p>Wartime. Accusations. The only witnesses being under the Fire Lord’s thumb. Layers of precedent building for a hundred years. </p><p>Fire Sage Tatsuya scowls at Kenji, and Kenji is hit with a wave of despair. It’s a feeling that usually only comes over him on the anniversary of the death of the man who was once his son. </p><p>“He cannot get away with this, Kenji,” Tatsuya insists, his voice quiet enough that Kenji is its only witness. </p><p>Kenji closes his eyes for a moment, breathing steadily to temper his inner flame. </p><p>“Rest assured, Fire Sage Tatsuya,” Kenji replies. “He already has.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The Temple of the Avatar on Crescent Island is nothing like the High Temple.</p><p>The High Temple was always bustling with people. There were over a dozen sages, many of whom dedicated significant time to Zuko’s wellbeing. Fire Sage Matsu would come by every day at sunrise to offer Zuko a cup of tea before breakfast. Fire Sage Tatsuya would teach him anything he wanted to learn, as long as it was within permitted boundaries. And High Sage Kenji… It somehow entirely escaped Zuko’s notice that the High Sage, the most important sage of their entire nation, willingly granted Zuko unlimited access to his time. </p><p>There are only five other sages on Crescent Island.</p><p>And the High Temple had visitors every day. Zuko mostly hated this because it would impose on his studies. But there were morning offerings daily, and everyone was welcome: the royal family would sometimes sit on their special platform; the people of Caldera would pile into the room; visitors would come from near and far. Zuko would stand with the other sages. Sometimes, Kenji let him light and hold the candles. </p><p>There is no public worship on Crescent Island.</p><p>And beyond public worship, the High Temple would accept requests for legal and spiritual counsel from the sages. Zuko slowly came to enjoy the intricacies of the law when applied to living situations, and it was one way in which Zuko could really help people. And they would even have visitors from other temples from time to time. Once, a whole order from a temple in one of the colonies came to visit for an entire week. It was a female order, and one of the sages was Fire Sage Matsu’s birth sister, Fire Sage Miki. The two of them invited Zuko to walk with them when Fire Sage Matsu had business at the palace, and Fire Sage Miki had walked with Zuko to see the turtleducks. </p><p>There are no visitors to Crescent Island. </p><p>Worship and visitors and counsel requests broke up the monotony. Zuko understands that now, because there has been nothing but monotony for the last three years. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There are a few things that Zuko doesn’t hate about Crescent Island.</p><p>The library isn’t terrible. It isn’t as expansive as the libraries in the capital city, which is understandable, but they still have a library. Their Room of the Broken is barely a cupboard, but Zuko finds other areas of the temple to be by himself, and there’s barely any need to attempt to escape with so few other sages around.</p><p>Zuko learns to make candles, and takes over that role in the temple. This task is mindless, and it allows him to do something with his hands when he needs to run through logic without staring at books and scrolls anymore. </p><p>And then there’s Fire Sage Shyu. </p><p>“Here,” Fire Sage Shyu says, holding up a few letters. “Counsel requests from Caldera.”</p><p>Zuko nods to the table. “Thanks. I’ll get to them soon.”</p><p>“What’s got you candle-making?” Fire Sage Shyu asks. </p><p>Zuko wouldn’t say that they’re friends. The sages of Crescent Island are much firmer than the sages of the High Temple. Everything has to be done to precise standards, including interpersonal interactions. But Fire Sage Shyu skirts the line, sometimes. He asks how Zuko is doing, maybe once every few months. He brings Zuko the legal counsel letters that have always seemed to arrive from him - mostly from people in Caldera who are used to his counsel - as a simple, kind gesture. He has even tried to make jokes before, Zuko thinks, but they’ve never quite landed.</p><p>(It’s nothing like Fire Sage Matsu bringing him tea in the mornings, or Fire Sage Youta quizzing him on tree law over lunch, or High Sage Kenji trying not to laugh when Zuko would prove that he didn’t technically have to wear the hat.)</p><p>But it’s something. Fire Sage Shyu is kind, and he does try to engage with Zuko when the other sages aren’t around. Sometimes, Fire Sage Shyu will join Zuko on his long walks around the island. More than once, he has caught Zuko crawling through secret passages in the temple, trying to figure out where they go. Fire Sage Shyu’s response is always to laugh, and to suggest that Zuko try to get to a particular room before Fire Sage Shyu can walk there.</p><p>But there are some things that Zuko does hate about Crescent Island.</p><p>The only letters he receives are about counsel. Nobody from his previous family or from his previous brothers in service bothers to write to him. Zuko understands why they wouldn’t, but three years with Fire Sage Shyu’s face being the only one close to friendly is… difficult. </p><p>The sages of Crescent Island won’t allow him to deviate from ceremonial garb at all. The stupid hat must be worn during all waking hours, outside of the bathroom and some forms of firebending practice. His legal reasoning falls on deaf ears. And worse than that, the robes are short-sleeved, so Zuko cannot go a single day without being faced with the angry, ugly, hand-shaped scar wrapped around his left forearm.</p><p>(Zuko cried for days when he arrived here. Every time he thought he was getting a hold on his emotions, he would see that scar and it would well up inside him all over again. Because it’s more than just an angry, ugly scar. It’s a symbol, just like the metal cuffs on his wrists and ankles, just like his robes and his hat and his shoes. It’s a symbol that he can never shed. He will be marked forever by the fact that he bowed before the Fire Lord.)</p><p>“I keep coming back to this question,” Zuko admits, dipping the candle. “The case of the palace built around a stolen beam.” </p><p>Fire Sage Shyu places Zuko’s letters on the table, and then turns to frown at Zuko. “You like that case.”</p><p>Zuko hums. He can’t actually tell Fire Sage Shyu what fascinates him so much about the stolen beam. Last time Zuko spoke out about something like that, he was forced to bow before the Fire Lord. But he can shroud his inappropriate questions in legal queries, can ponder hypothetical cases instead of asking anyone else to face their reality. </p><p>“So it’s interesting that you just misquoted it,” Fire Sage Shyu points out. Zuko carefully removes the candle from the wax, and then looks up at Fire Sage Shyu. “It isn’t a <em> palace </em> built around a stolen beam. The case is talking about a house.”</p><p>Zuko feels himself drain of colour. He’s suddenly desperately hungry, the way that he always is when he missteps, like his body is reminding him of the potential consequences of breaking the rules on Crescent Island.</p><p>“I didn’t mean--”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Fire Sage Shyu assures him, raising his hands in a calming motion. “Don’t worry, Fire Sage Zuko. You misspoke. That is all.” </p><p>Zuko hesitates, staring up at his brother in service, and then finally nods. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>But Fire Sage Shyu starts to look at him differently.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>One day, years into his exile to this painfully quiet island, Zuko looks up at the statue of Avatar Roku and thinks that something looks… different.</p><p>Zuko is halfway through lighting the candles in this room to make it bright enough for study, now that the sun is on the other side of the temple. His hand is outstretched toward the candles by the statue’s feet when he looks up, only to find that Avatar Roku’s watchful eyes are nothing but stone. </p><p>(Sometimes, Zuko thinks there’s a joyless irony in the fact that the man who was once his father sent him to this specific temple. Ozai never once mentioned that Zuko’s former mother was the granddaughter of Avatar Roku - and yet this is where he chose to send Zuko. From the remnant of what was once his family in Caldera, to the remnant of what was once his family on Crescent Island.)</p><p>Avatar Roku’s eyes have always held a low, dull glow. But now they are simply stone. </p><p>A trick of the light, Zuko tells himself as he continues to prepare the room for his studies. Surely the stone eyes only seem to glow when sunlight pours through the sanctuary window.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The following day, light spills from Roku’s eyes like never before.</p><p>“The rumours are true,” Great Sage Sadao states. “The Avatar has finally returned.” </p><p>Zuko frowns and looks to Fire Sage Shyu. Fire Sage Shyu is looking up at Avatar Roku’s statue with an expression of reverence. The other sages seem less impressed.</p><p>“The Avatar has been gone for a hundred years. Do you think this means he finally died, and the next Avatar has been born?” Zuko asks.</p><p>“No, the eyes only glow when the Avatar has entered into the Avatar State,” Fire Sage Shyu explains. “The new Avatar must be old enough to be realising their power.”</p><p>“You’re both wrong.” The Great Sage continues to frown up at the statue’s bright eyes. “The rumours are that the <em> last </em>Avatar is back. The airbender.”</p><p>Zuko blinks. “But where did they go? Why didn’t they use the Avatar State in a hundred years?”</p><p>“Does it matter?” the Great Sage asks. </p><p>Zuko <em> hates </em> it when he answers questions this way. Questions always matter, but Great Sage Sadao seems uninterested in anything that Zuko ever has to say. </p><p>“Of course not,” Fire Sage Juro responds. “We are loyal to the Fire Lord. The presence of the Avatar makes no difference to our obligations.”</p><p>Great Sage Sadao smiles, and then gestures for the sages to leave the sanctuary. </p><p>Once only Zuko and Fire Sage Shyu are left, Zuko turns to look at the glowing eyes of the statue. As he watches, the light fades. The Avatar has left the heightened state. </p><p>“But this is the Temple of the Avatar,” Zuko points out. </p><p>Fire Sage Shyu huffs something that sounds almost like a laugh. “Yes. That, it is.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There have been entire seasons on Crescent Island in which Zuko has felt that he was living the same, wearisome day, over and over again. </p><p>Once Roku’s glowing eyes inform them of the presence of the Avatar, that changes. Tensions rise in the temple as the sages await the possibility that the Avatar will come here. Should this be the airbending Avatar, and should he wish to speak with his previous incarnation, this temple would be the place to do it. </p><p>The Fire Sages of Crescent Island do not spend much time together, outside of meals and offerings. But those moments seem charged now, as they each wait for the possibility of disturbance. </p><p>Atop that tension is an uneasy understanding settling between Fire Sage Shyu and Zuko. </p><p>Zuko is almost certain that Fire Sage Shyu’s loyalties do not lie with the Fire Lord. But the last time Zuko suggested that his loyalties might lie elsewhere… </p><p>So Zuko says nothing, and he waits. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko is feeding the songbirds when the bells ring. </p><p>It’s a cloudy day with a bite of chill in the air, and Zuko is in a bad mood. He’s halfway through responding to a request for counsel, and the request is so absurd that Zuko wishes he could look the man in the face while delivering his response. The tension in the temple is high, and the addition of the request has reached boiling point for Zuko’s sanity, and so he has gone on a long walk to feed to songbirds. He’ll come back a little calmer, meditate, make offerings to Agni, and then finish his correspondence as clearly and uninsultingly as he can manage. </p><p>When Zuko hears the bells, he looks to the waters, but they’re clear on this side of the island. Zuko is about to turn and head back to the temple when he realises that the Avatar isn’t arriving via ship at all. </p><p>That… is a flying bison. </p><p>Zuko almost laughs, watching the massive beast approach. Flying bison are supposed to be extinct. But then, so are Air Nomads.</p><p>He makes it back to the temple before the Avatar lands, but it’s a close call.</p><p>And the Avatar… is a child. </p><p>(He might even be younger than Zuko was when he first came to Crescent Island. And the Avatar’s allies aren’t much older. Why are they <em> children?)  </em></p><p>Five adult sages chase the Avatar. </p><p>(It has been years since Zuko has seen anyone close to his own age.)</p><p>Zuko leaves the Avatar and the sages to their chase, and rushes to the closest window. He cannot see the flying bison anymore. Zuko wonders if the bison is a hundred years old, or if his books are wrong and the flying bison aren’t extinct after all. </p><p>Zuko is considering leaving the temple to locate the mysterious creature when a mighty boom sounds from below him.</p><p>“The sanctuary!” Fire Sage Chiasa shouts. </p><p>Zuko hesitates. He doesn’t want to be involved in the capturing of the Avatar. He doesn’t want to play a role in the illegal and immoral rule of Fire Lord Ozai.</p><p>But it’s hard to resist knowing what is happening below ground.</p><p>Zuko takes the shortcut. </p><p>(The sages don’t like it when Zuko discovers more secret passages in the temple, but as far as Zuko can tell, temples are all created with secret labyrinths. And they are intended to be explored. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have been built in the first place.</p><p>So Zuko ignores the pang in his stomach that reminds him of the consequences of being caught, and he finds his way to the sanctuary the fun way.)</p><p>Of course, when he gets there, Zuko enters at a different angle to the rest of the sages. And while the main problem with this should be the potential trouble of being caught, there is a more immediate consequence:</p><p>Zuko finds himself face-to-face with the Water Tribe boy. </p><p>“Um,” the kid whispers. “Hi?”</p><p>He’s behind a pillar, hidden from sight from where the sages enter. </p><p>Zuko looks around the pillar to where Shyu is acting like he has no idea what’s going on, gesturing widely to the closed sanctuary doors. </p><p>“Oh no,” Zuko says, keeping his voice down. “Fire Sage Shyu is a <em> terrible </em>actor.” </p><p>And then the Water Tribe boy laughs.</p><p>He immediately clamps a hand over his own face, forcing the slightly-hysterical chuckle down, but he continues to look at Zuko as if Zuko has said something funny. And Zuko hasn’t made someone his own age laugh since he was in Caldera. In fact, Zuko can’t remember the last time he made someone his own age laugh by being funny, instead of being laughed at for his failings.</p><p>Zuko finds himself smiling, pleased in some small way that seems all-encompassing, and then the sages blast open the sanctuary doors. </p><p>The Water Tribe boy springs out to attack Fire Sage Juro.</p><p>Zuko holds back, watching Fire Sage Shyu and the Avatar’s allies secure the sages. The Avatar darts into the sanctuary. </p><p>(The Avatar, who is a <em> child.)  </em></p><p>Fire Sage Shyu throws the Great Sage off himself and rushes to close the doors. As they’re closing, Great Sage Sadao takes position for an attack.</p><p>Before Zuko has a moment to consider the ramifications, he finds himself sweeping in and blocking Great Sage Sadao’s fire. </p><p>“Fire Sage Zuko,” Great Sage Sadao booms. “You will stand down.”</p><p>Fury settles in Zuko’s spine. </p><p>“I will <em> not </em>stand down,” he says, falling into stance. </p><p>Zuko can easily take the Great Sage in a fight. He might even be able to take all four temple sages together. Not only are these men past their prime, they are only trained in firebending required of sages, with the barest of self-defence training. Zuko spent years in combat training, from the moment he kindled his first flame.</p><p>“Why are you doing this?” the Great Sage hisses. </p><p>Zuko punches at the air, stopping Fire Sage Juro from attacking the Water Tribe girl from behind.</p><p>“Because you are wrong,” Zuko replies. </p><p>And yes, this is probably a huge mistake. He’s thrown away a life that he thought he didn’t want once, when he stood up to the Fire Lord and lost his place in the High Temple. He’s probably doing the same again, but for an even lesser cause - just to allow the Avatar safe passage. </p><p>But Zuko bowed last time. He submitted himself to power instead of honour. He will <em> not </em> bow again. </p><p>“Our duty is to aid the Avatar,” Fire Sage Shyu states, meeting the Great Sage’s glare. Zuko leaves him to handle the Great Sage and slots himself between the Water Tribe boy and Fire Sage Juro. Zuko has never liked Fire Sage Juro. “This is the Temple of the Avatar. Not the Temple of the Fire Lord.” </p><p>And then, as if it cannot get messier, the Temple of the Avatar falls under attack. </p><p>By… the Fire Nation?</p><p>“How touching.” </p><p>Zuko looks over at the Fire Nation soldiers, all of whom are masked except… </p><p>“Commander Zhao,” Great Sage Sadao greets, with a bow that is a fraction deeper than appropriate. </p><p>“Tie up the traitors,” Commander Zhao demands of his soldiers. “Then we’ll take out the Avatar.” </p><p>This is bad. </p><p>Zuko ends up bound to the same pillar as the other children and Fire Sage Shyu. He leans forward to catch Fire Sage Shyu’s eyes, but Zuko doesn’t even know what he wants to communicate.</p><p>“Aang,” the Water Tribe girl laments, staring wide-eyed at the closed doors. “How will he know they’re coming?”</p><p>“We could scream?” the boy suggests. </p><p>Zuko shakes his head. “He won’t hear you from behind the doors,” Zuko explains. </p><p>The Water Tribe boy gives Zuko a long look. “Then we need to distract them right after they open the doors,” he says, looking back and forth between Zuko and the girl on either side of himself. “To give Aang time to react. Any ideas?” </p><p>They’re tied up tightly. Zuko’s arms are pinned to his sides. He can touch the chain with his right hand, can grab onto it, but there’s no shaking it loose. </p><p>But Zuko’s legs are loose. A glance tells him that the same goes for Fire Sage Shyu.</p><p>Zuko leans forward and over the Water Tribe boy. “Fire Sage Shyu,” he whispers. Fire Sage Shyu looks over with raised eyebrows. “According to the fifth chapter of--”</p><p>“Zuko,” Fire Sage Shyu replies, a strained smile on his face. “I don’t need the reasoning.”</p><p>“We can fight the soldiers,” Zuko concludes, a little miffed at being interrupted, “even though they’re not directly attacking us right now.”</p><p>“That only really helps if you have a plan for how,” the boy points out. </p><p>Zuko leans back so that he isn’t squashing the Avatar’s ally quite so much. </p><p>“My legs are untied. Can you brace yourself?” he asks Fire Sage Shyu. “If we kick at the same time, right when the doors are opening…” </p><p>Fire Sage Shyu nods. “Got it.”</p><p>Zuko braces his back against the pillar. He can grasp the chains with his right hand, but not with his left, so he turns to the Water Tribe boy. “I’m going to need to use you for leverage,” he explains, and winds their fingers together. “Brace.” </p><p>“Uh,” the boy says, going faintly pink, but Zuko doesn’t have time to figure out what that reaction means.</p><p>The soldiers blast their fire into the door. </p><p>Zuko and Fire Sage Shyu jump and kick fire at the soldiers’ backs, <em> hard.  </em></p><p>They break formation, turning to defend themselves--</p><p>And the doors don’t open. </p><p>Zuko feet land back on the floor. He looks over to Fire Sage Shyu, wide-eyed.</p><p>Commander Zhao growls.</p><p>“Why didn’t the doors open?” he demands. </p><p>“Avatar Roku must not want you in there,” the Great Sage points out from his own place as a prisoner of the Fire Nation. </p><p>There is no way any of this ends well. </p><p>Commander Zhao growls again, and then storms up to Zuko and Fire Sage Shyu. “Your little trick was for nothing,” he spits, and then turns to his soldiers. “Tie up their legs. The Avatar has to come out eventually.” </p><p>But then, just as Commander Zhao goes to leave them at the pillar, his eyes catch on Zuko’s face. </p><p>After a moment, he laughs. Zuko recoils from the sound.</p><p>“So this is where they sent you?” Commander Zhao says. </p><p>Zuko glares. </p><p>“As far away as they could. I understand. What do you think the Fire Lord is going to think when I dump you on his doorstep? A traitor, <em> again?” </em>Commander Zhao is too close to him. Zuko tries to shrink back to avoid the disgusting feeling of Commander Zhao’s breath on his skin. It appears that Zhao hasn’t gotten any less creepy in their time apart. “You’ll be lucky if he doesn’t burn you to--”</p><p>“Hey!” the Water Tribe boy snaps from beside Zuko. “Leave him alone!” </p><p>Commander Zhao pauses, smirking at Zuko. He doesn’t lean away. “Maybe I won’t take you back to the palace at all,” he suggests. Zuko shudders. He doesn’t fully understand the threat, but he hasn’t missed that there is one. “I wouldn’t suggest underestimating me.”</p><p>Zuko can’t glare any more deeply.</p><p>“You’re impossible to <em>under</em>estimate,” he responds.</p><p>There’s a brief pause, and then the Water Tribe boy laughs uproariously. Zuko blinks, that same pleased surprise washing through him, and - thank Agni - it’s loud enough that Zhao leans away. </p><p>“Good one,” the boy next to him says, squeezing the hand that’s still holding Zuko’s.</p><p>“Say what you want, <em> Fire Sage Zuko,” </em>Zhao sneers, using Zuko’s proper title as if it’s an insult. “I still own you.”</p><p>And then he reaches up to Zuko’s face. </p><p>Zuko flinches away, but Zhao’s hand passes by his face and lands, instead, on Zuko’s hat. </p><p>“Get off me,” Zuko growls, but it makes no difference. Zhao tears the hat from Zuko’s head and drops it to the floor. “You can’t--” Zuko starts, watching Zhao lift his heavy boot, and Zuko is so angry that he might consider screaming fire at Zhao, even though it can’t possibly do anything but make it worse--</p><p>And the doors to the sanctuary burst open. </p><p>Blinding light pours from the sanctuary, followed by a wave of fire. The fire dissolves the chains but doesn’t harm them - it’s like nothing Zuko has ever seen before - </p><p>“Run!”</p><p>“Avatar Roku is going to destroy the Temple!” Fire Sage Shyu shouts. Zuko stares at the Avatar, barely feeling the world shake beneath him. “We have to get out of here!”</p><p>Zuko feels himself pulled away from the carnage. Somehow, Zuko’s heartbeat is so loud that it’s competing with the sound of the floor splitting and stone falling from the ceiling. He lifts the arm that isn’t being dragged by Fire Sage Shyu in an attempt to protect his head. His hand brushes his bare topknot.</p><p>“Wait,” Zuko says, realisation dawning. He pulls his arm from Fire Sage Shyu. “You go, I’ll be right behind you!”</p><p>Zuko darts back to the pillars, narrowly avoiding - oh spirits, oh great Agni, that is <em> lava </em>-</p><p>There. </p><p>Zuko rushes back to the pillar he was tied to, which is somehow miraculously still standing, and snatches his hat from the ground. </p><p>“Zuko.”</p><p>Avatar Roku stands tall, staring straight at Zuko. And Zuko freezes, pinned in place by Roku’s watchful eyes, until Avatar Roku fades into Avatar Aang.</p><p>“We need to run!” Zuko calls to the other kids. </p><p>The Water Tribe kids all but drag the Avatar for the first leg of the journey, up the stairs and around to-- </p><p>The temple is tilting. </p><p>The temple is <em> tilting.  </em></p><p>They find themselves at a hole in the wall that used to be a window, lava to one side of them and a collapsed pillar to the other. </p><p>They’re trapped.</p><p>“We’re going to have to jump,” Zuko declares, looking out to the water. They’re not likely to survive it. Even if they hit the water, the <em> temple </em> will be hitting the water soon. But it’s their only chance. “When you hit the water, swim as fast as you can.” </p><p>“Wait! Zuko,” Avatar Aang says, grabbing for Zuko’s forearm. Zuko pulls away hastily. “We don’t have to jump into the water. Look!”</p><p>He points out of the gaping hole where the window once was. </p><p>It’s the flying bison. </p><p>There’s no time for relief to settle, because the temple is still tilting under their shoes. But Zuko jumps with the Avatar and his allies and lands in a saddle on an extinct animal, and then the wind whips at his face as the animal flies away.</p><p>Zuko looks back and watches his home for the last three years disappear in lava and ash. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There are so many books in that temple. <em> Were </em>so many books. Ancient manuscripts, holy items, rooms Zuko has dedicated and re-dedicated to the service of Agni.</p><p>Zuko feels hollow as he watches it fade into the distance. </p><p>(What is he supposed to do now?)</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>It’s quiet on the bison for a long time. </p><p>Zuko has no idea what he’s doing. The Temple of the Avatar is gone. He cannot return to Crescent Island, but he also cannot return to Caldera without being killed. </p><p>The other Fire Sages… </p><p>Zuko draws a deep breath and crosses his legs. He cups a flame in his hands in lieu of a candle and offers a silent prayer for their lives and safety. It’s not much of an offering, but it’s all Zuko can give.</p><p>“Zuko?” the Avatar asks. “Are you okay?” </p><p>Zuko looks up to find three weary, worried faces staring back at him.</p><p>He frowns.</p><p>“How do you know my name?” he asks the Avatar. </p><p>Avatar Aang smiles. “Roku told me!” he declares. “He said that I should pass on a message to you. He wanted me to tell you that you’re going to have to help restore balance.”</p><p>Zuko closes his eyes for a moment. </p><p>Well. Running away and starting a new life was never an option, anyway. He’s taken vows for his nation and for the service of Agni. There’s no running away from that. The heavy cuffs on his wrists and ankles bear witness to this fact.</p><p>“Any idea why an Avatar who’s been dead for over a hundred years would ask you to do that?” the Water Tribe boy asks. When Zuko opens his eyes, it’s to find that he’s been peered at with suspicion.</p><p>Zuko preferred it when he made the boy laugh. </p><p>“He was an ancestor of mine,” Zuko says. “I imagine that’s why.”</p><p>The Avatar gasps. </p><p>“Zuko!” he says, face lighting up. “Don’t you know what this means?” </p><p>“Aang,” the girl says, reaching out a calming hand. </p><p>“We’re family!” Aang declares, beaming at Zuko. </p><p>The boy settles his face in his palm. “Pretty sure that’s not how it works, buddy.” </p><p>“I don’t have family,” Zuko informs the Avatar as plainly as he can. </p><p>The Avatar’s smile wavers. </p><p>“But you’re going to teach me firebending, right?” he suggests. “So that I can beat the Fire Lord and restore balance to the world?” The smile is gone entirely now. “Because Roku says that I have to do it before summer’s end, or Fire Lord Ozai is going to use a comet to end the war for good.” </p><p>Sozin’s Comet will be returning. Zuko knows this, of course, but the Avatar’s statement turns this from a natural fact into a phase of war. </p><p>Zuko sighs. </p><p>“I cannot teach you firebending,” Zuko explains, trying his best to be gentle about this fact. “I am a Fire Sage. My bending is for use in ritual, worship, and defence. I am not permitted to teach you bending intended for war.”</p><p>Avatar Aang stares at him, wide-eyed. “But Roku said…”</p><p>“Avatar Roku was not referring to the balance of the world,” Zuko explains. “I have a different imbalance to correct.” </p><p>The Avatar’s flying lemur swoops from his shoulder to perch near Zuko’s knee. The lemur frowns up at Zuko, confused and offended, and then scrabbles toward Zuko’s hip and starts pawing at Zuko’s robes. </p><p>“Momo,” the girl says, reaching forward to try to pluck the lemur from Zuko’s robes. Momo scrambles away from her, chittering, and then returns to Zuko. </p><p>“I don’t think Roku would tell me that,” the Avatar insists. “And besides, where are you going to go?” </p><p>“It does seem like Zhao has it in for you,” the Water Tribe boy adds. “And considering how much he has it in for <em> us, </em>that’s saying something.” </p><p>Ugh. Zhao. Zuko shakes his head, irritation prickling at his skin. “Zhao is the <em> worst.”  </em></p><p>“I figure any enemy of Zhao’s isn’t so bad,” the Water Tribe boy says, a false cheer laced in his tone. “I’m Sokka. That’s my sister, Katara. She and Aang are trying to find a waterbending master.” </p><p>“Trying to find-- You haven’t mastered waterbending yet?” Zuko asks the Avatar. “Why would you be looking for a firebending teacher? You have to master waterbending and earthbending first.” </p><p>Aang’s shoulders slump. “I don’t have time to wait,” he insists. </p><p>“There’s a proper order.” Zuko pushes away the lemur again as it urgently grabs at Zuko’s robes. “There’s a <em> reason </em> it’s that way.”</p><p>“How about,” the girl - Katara - starts, and then huffs and picks Momo up again. “How about you just teach Aang <em> about </em> firebending? Tell him how it works? That way, you don’t have to do any combat training, and it prepares Aang for when he’s ready to learn firebending?” Momo escapes from her arms. “What is <em> with </em> you?” </p><p>Zuko finally focuses on the flying lemur. </p><p>Oh, right.</p><p>Zuko pulls a few scrolls out of his left pocket, fishing around until he finds-- </p><p>“Here,” Zuko says, pulling out the bundle. “Is this what you’re looking for?”</p><p>He unties the string and unfolds the cloth, and Momo sticks his entire face into the birdseed. </p><p>Zuko smiles. </p><p>“Well,” he says, “it’s not like I can go back to the temple.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>They fly for a long while, trying to gain as much distance on Zhao as possible, but it seems that the flying bison is tired. “He’s already flown so much today,” the Avatar laments. “We’ve gotta let him rest.” </p><p>Zuko wonders if a hundred years in ice also contributes to this tiredness, but it isn’t any of his business. </p><p>(Zuko is pretty tired, too. Between the mounting tension in the temple, the fight, and watching his home of three years collapse… it’s been a long day.)</p><p>They find a clearing to make camp in, and Zuko is faced with a whole new challenge: sleeping outside. It’s cold. He doesn’t have any clothing other than his robes, which are thick and warm, but also leave his arms and calves bare. </p><p>It’s fine, Zuko tells himself; he’ll just build a fire and maintain it until he’s asleep. </p><p>But the moment Zuko creates a fire, the other three kids start giving him long looks.</p><p>“What?” Zuko asks, irritated. </p><p>“Nothing!” Sokka insists, looking away, and then immediately looking back. “It’s just… weird, that’s all. Until today, we hadn’t met any firebenders who weren’t evil.”</p><p>“I had!” Aang insists. “I knew firebenders growing up. I had a friend from the Fire Nation, and sometimes the temple would host meetings of Fire Sages like you, Zuko.” </p><p>Zuko blinks over the fire at the Avatar. </p><p>“They would… host meetings?” </p><p>Aang nods. “Yeah, they would talk about philosophy and stuff. I was never invited.” He sounds a little petulant about that. “But they were really nice! Monk Gyatso would call them his brothers.” </p><p>Zuko has read about conferences, in the loosest sense. There were legal cases and frameworks in the literature that were clearly examples picked up from the Air Nomads. But it somehow has never occurred to Zuko <em> how </em> these things got communicated - that, once upon a time, a sage like him might travel to an Air Temple to learn from the monks. </p><p>Guilt creeps up Zuko’s spine. He’s spent time reading about the facts of the war, but the truth is, Zuko’s concern has always been the relationship between the palace and the temple. Today is the first time in his life he is on Earth Kingdom soil. It’s always been a theory to him, facts on a page that exist to prove his point that something is wrong in Caldera. </p><p>“I am sorry,” Zuko offers, “for what happened to your people.” </p><p>Aang’s smile dampens. He looks away. </p><p>“Well, if you’re <em> sorry,” </em>Sokka points out, “you might want to consider stepping up to help stop the war.” </p><p>Zuko sighs, looking into the fire, and then pulls his hat on. “I should give evening offerings,” he says, and then realises he really has nothing on him for prayer. He runs through the order of the rules in his mind, weaving together what evening offerings look like in the scenario he has found himself in. He hasn’t spent a night away from a temple since his initiation ceremony, with the sole exception of time on a ship when he was sedated. “I will be back soon.” </p><p>He doesn’t miss the suspicious frowns that Sokka and Katara both send his way.</p><p>The Avatar, apparently, does. </p><p>“Okay,” Aang says. “We’ll have dinner waiting when you’re ready!”</p><p>“Oh, <em> we </em>will, will we?” Katara asks drily. </p><p>Zuko walks away for privacy, and then drops into the first bow to Agni’s disappearing presence. </p><p>The ritual clears his mind and heart. </p><p>A life in service of Agni means a life in service of honour, truth, and justice. As he settles into the final meditation, Zuko’s focus lifts and shifts. His devotion is to the will of Agni, not to the will of the Fire Nation or the Fire Lord. </p><p>When he arrives back at the campsite, Zuko’s steps land more easily. </p><p>“We will begin in the morning,” he informs the Avatar. “At sunrise.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>It’s cold at night, even by the fire. </p><p>Zuko uses his hat as a pillow, because there’s technically no reason not to. He curls up his legs as tightly as possible to tuck them into his robes. And he utilises his breath of fire to stay warm, but it takes the kind of concentration that keeps him from falling into sleep.</p><p>After a while, Zuko feels something warm and heavy settle over him. It’s a thick blue coat. </p><p>Sokka disappears back to his bedroll without a word.</p><p>“Thank you,” Zuko whispers, but doesn’t get a response. </p><p>It might be strange and cold, sleeping outside - but at least Zuko isn’t completely alone.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“Firebending comes from breath, and is fueled by emotion,” Zuko explains. </p><p>Aang spent the very first moments of sunrise following Zuko through his morning offerings. Due to the Avatar’s incessant questions, Zuko can’t quite settle into the feeling of fulfilled obligation. But Zuko suspects that there’s no way to avoid feeling on-edge anyway, considering how the world has shifted around him. </p><p>“What emotions?” Aang asks. </p><p>“I’ve read that there are many options,” Zuko explains. “Most firebenders today use anger and passion.” </p><p>Aang screws up his nose. “I don’t think I want to use anger.” </p><p>“You won’t be using anything yet,” Zuko reminds him. “You’re not ready to learn firebending, and I’m not able to teach you. We will simply meditate together.”</p><p>Zuko walks Aang through the breathing exercises he was taught as a child. He doesn’t give Aang a flame to meditate on. </p><p>“This doesn’t seem like it has much to do with firebending,” Aang says. </p><p>The sun is creeping higher in the sky. Zuko turns his face toward it, soaking up the rays. </p><p>“The first step is to control your breathing, and to locate your inner flame,” Zuko explains. “You will not be using your flame. You simply need to know that it is inside of you.”</p><p>Aang opens his eyes. “You’re saying ‘my flame’ like it’s separate to me. But isn’t it just… part of me?” </p><p>Zuko hums. “I suppose. In a sense. But you need to know the boundaries of it so that you can temper it.” Zuko reaches for the edges of his inner flame and its comforting warmth. “Fire can be destructive if it goes unchecked. You need to be able to control your flame before you start using it.” Zuko calls his flame to his palm and holds it up between them. “You need to understand its boundaries.”</p><p>Aang looks unimpressed.</p><p>“The monks taught me that there are no such things as boundaries.” </p><p>Zuko raises his eyebrows. “I don’t understand.”</p><p>“It’s like…” Aang stares at Zuko’s flame for a long moment. “We think of everything as being separate. Like the nations. But that’s just because it’s easier to see the world that way - it’s not actually true.”</p><p>“It isn’t?” Zuko asks. He coaxes his flame into dancing on his palm, which makes Aang smile. “Then why can’t I waterbend?”</p><p>Aang looks at Zuko over the flame, and his eyes are bright.</p><p>“It’s more than that, I think?” He looks thoughtful for a moment, clearly reaching for memories of lessons of men long gone from the world. “It’s not just that the boundaries between the nations aren’t real. It’s that the boundaries between you and me, between my skin and the air, they’re not real. The closer you get to where you think the line is drawn, the less the line seems to actually exist.” </p><p>Zuko lowers his palm, allowing the flame to flicker out. </p><p>There’s a truth to that, he recognises. The closer you get to the boundary, the more blurred it is. Where, exactly, does Zuko end and the flame begin?</p><p>“And if there’s no real boundary between what’s me and what’s the air, then why can’t I move it, like I can move my arms?” Aang explains. “And if there’s no real boundary between me and the air, what are the boundaries between the nations?”</p><p>Zuko watches Aang carefully.</p><p>“Airbending isn’t like firebending,” he clarifies. “Your fire is already inside of you. You don’t need to reach out and grasp it, to dissolve boundaries. You control it.”</p><p>Aang smiles. “But what if you didn’t do it that way? What if you let go of the boundaries between you and the flame, instead?”</p><p>Zuko stares for a moment, trying to parse out the thought. And then he raises his hands again and cups them, and instead of calling fire to his palms like he’s pressing down on the edges of it, Zuko tries releasing the boundary between himself and the flame, tries accepting that maybe the boundary never existed in the first place.</p><p>Time passes, and nothing happens. Aang slips back into his breathing exercises. The sun climbs in the sky.</p><p>Zuko meditates on the nonexistent space between Zuko’s skin and the air.</p><p>And eventually, the smallest flame grows in his cupped hands. It’s weak, orange and yellow. It feels different, somehow.</p><p>The Avatar might be onto something, Zuko thinks. Perhaps they need to stop seeing themselves in terms of the walls their ancestors built. </p><p>“I will teach you what I can,” Zuko agrees. Aang beams at him. “If you will teach me.” </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Earth I (Part I)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>Three years without a child in the High Temple teaches Kenji that something deeply strange is happening in Royal Caldera City. </p><p>Despite the fact that the High Temple is filled with sages with decades of experience, it has become a regular practice for people to approach the temple with a request to receive counsel or questioning from a banished sage. This has puzzled Kenji from the first time a letter was pressed into his hands, only days after Zuko was taken away from his care. Kenji knew that Zuko had much potential as a legal arbitrator, and that he was a popular figure when he resided in the High Temple, but part of Kenji had assumed that his popularity was largely due to the novelty of receiving a ruling from a child.</p><p>Is it Zuko's creativity with the law? His brazenness when it comes to utilising loopholes? The fact that he is unafraid to insult people in court, like he is unable to mentally process the potential ramifications?</p><p>(Is it, perhaps, that Zuko was once their prince?)</p><p>“You’re overthinking it,” Tatsuya insists when Kenji asks. “The people have always liked the kid. They probably still picture him as being thirteen.”</p><p>Kenji pushes down the part of him that also still pictures Zuko at thirteen. He must be sixteen by now. He might even be as tall as Kenji. </p><p>“You think it’s the novelty of his age,” Kenji responds.</p><p>Tatsuya raises an eyebrow. “No, Kenji, I think it’s because he’s a kid. He just sees ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. He doesn’t see everything else. And when people have been wronged, they appreciate that.” Tatsuya frowns at the letter in Kenji’s hand. “It’s probably a good reason to keep him from giving too much counsel, you know. Context is important.”</p><p>And then Tatsuya looks up at Kenji with a curious expression, like he’s genuinely interested in Kenji’s reaction to that proposal. </p><p>Kenji sighs. Zuko can only be getting better at adding context and shedding naivete with age. There’s no point in withholding this from him now. </p><p>“I will have Fire Sage Kei send these to Crescent Island,” he says, and Tatsuya offers him a knowing smile. </p><p>Later, when Kenji is penning a quick note to attach to the most recent counsel requests for Crescent Island, the Fire Prince sweeps into his doorway. </p><p>“High Sage Kenji,” Prince Iroh says, and then offers an appropriate bow. He seems unsteady in a way that Kenji is unused to seeing in him. “I have... news.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko’s first full day away from Crescent Island is marked by a series of arguments.</p><p>They continue their journey north until Aang and Katara decide to stop to practice waterbending. Zuko uses the excuse to find another space in the river to bathe and wash the ash out of his hair, for which he has to use borrowed soaps and no oils. He’s already a little frustrated by this fact when he returns, comb in hand, to find a mounting tension between the others.</p><p>Aang is apparently good at the basic waterbending moves. While Zuko expects this to elicit a positive response, it apparently irritates Katara - and then Aang’s overexcitement at waterbending causes several of their bags to wash downriver. </p><p>This is when the first argument breaks out. It is, oddly enough, not about Aang’s waterbending mistake or Katara’s irritation. Instead, Sokka turns to Zuko to explain that Zuko cannot wear his own clothing into the nearest town to replace their lost provisions.</p><p>“Because of how much you stand out!” Sokka explains, waving his hands at, apparently, the entirety of Zuko. </p><p>“I won’t wear the hat,” Zuko allows, because after three years of being forced to wear it every day, Zuko is <em> very ready </em>to stop wearing the hat. “But I’m not changing into… What do you even want me to wear?” He frowns at Sokka’s blue clothing, and then at Aang and Katara. “None of you look like you belong in the Earth Kingdom.” </p><p>Sokka pinches his nose. “Yes, and Aang’s arrow is bad enough--”</p><p>“Hey!” Aang responds, hands flying protectively to his head. “There’s nothing wrong with my arrow!” </p><p>“-- but you stick out like a sore thumb.” </p><p>Zuko looks down at his heavy robes, and then back to Aang. </p><p>“I don’t see the problem. I’m not going to make us any more conspicuous than you were without me.” </p><p>They get stuck in the kind of logical circle that Zuko has never enjoyed. Sokka’s reasoning doesn’t make any sense, but he’s not letting go of it. </p><p>“Sokka, please just say what you mean,” Zuko requests, as plainly as he can. “I can’t interpret you.” </p><p>Sokka blinks at him for a moment, and then looks over to Aang and Katara. Aang doesn’t seem to understand what’s happening any more than Zuko does, but Katara is frowning and biting her lip in a way that tells Zuko that <em> something </em>is happening here. </p><p>“Look, buddy, you look… really Fire Nation.” </p><p>Zuko tilts his head. “I am Fire Nation.”</p><p>“Yes, I get that - I am in the process of getting that - but you look. It’s like… Some of the people we meet and help, they see people like you, and you represent all the most awful things that have ever happened to them.” </p><p>Zuko continues to comb through his hair to give his hands something to do while he considers Sokka’s point.</p><p>“Is where we’re going really so unused to people from the Fire Nation?” he asks.</p><p>“I don’t know!” Sokka exclaims. “Maybe they are!” </p><p>Zuko moves all of his hair over his left shoulder to ensure that his comb can reach the ends. </p><p>“Then wouldn’t it be good for them to encounter someone from the Fire Nation who isn’t a soldier?”</p><p>Sokka huffs, gesturing at Zuko again. “Stop - you’re doing that on purpose!”</p><p>Zuko frowns up at Sokka, comb stilling halfway down his hair. “Doing what on purpose?” he asks. “You’re not making any sense.”</p><p>Sokka makes a frustrated noise and walks away. </p><p>Zuko looks over to Aang and Katara, who are both watching with raised eyebrows. </p><p>“Can you clarify what just happened for me?” Zuko requests.</p><p>“And!” Sokka states, whirling around again. <em> “And. </em>Stop talking like you’re ninety. It’s weird.” </p><p>Zuko scowls. “You’re weird!” he snaps. “I’ll stay behind with Appa. I don’t want to come to an Earth Kingdom town with you anyway.”</p><p>“Oh what, because the Earth Kingdom is so below the Fire Nation?” Sokka asks. </p><p>“I don’t understand you!” Zuko shouts, and then spins around and walks away. </p><p>That’s the first argument. Zuko cannot comprehend why Sokka insists on being illogical, or why the other kids seem unwilling to help. </p><p>The second argument breaks out upon their return. </p><p>Zuko finds a nice spot to make a fire offering, spends some time brushing Appa, and then sits to read the last of his counsel requests. </p><p>Zuko has just fished ink and a brush out of his right pocket when the group returns. And that’s when everything falls apart over a single scroll.</p><p>“You stole it?” Zuko asks, stunned, as he stares up at Katara. “You can’t do that. Theft is wrong.” </p><p>Zuko has needed to explain the injustice of many actions before, often using fairly complex arguments. He has <em> never </em> had to justify ‘theft is wrong’ as a statement, and he wasn’t expecting Katara to be the person to require that explanation. </p><p>Katara scowls at him. <em> “He </em>stole it, too,” she points out.</p><p>“And it’s none of your business!” Sokka adds, as if that makes a difference to whether or not theft is morally wrong. </p><p>Aang looks confused. “Weren’t you also mad at Katara for stealing, Sokka?”</p><p>Sokka folds his arms. “Yes, but that doesn’t make it any of <em> his </em> business.” </p><p>Zuko pinches the bridge of his nose, then packs away his ink. “We’re returning the scroll,” he insists. </p><p>“That’s not your call to make!” Sokka yells.</p><p>“I don’t understand what your problem is,” Zuko says, standing up and turning to face Sokka properly, “but it doesn’t matter. Katara stole something. Theft is wrong. And I’m sure it’s illegal, even in the Earth Kingdom.”</p><p>“Oh, <em> even in the Earth Kingdom, </em> huh?” Sokka replies. “What, because it isn’t <em> civilised </em>here like in your precious Fire Nation?”</p><p>Zuko blinks at Sokka for a moment, and then turns to Katara. “Katara. Good people do not steal. It is important that we return this item to its rightful owner.” </p><p>Katara is scowling, but she doesn’t look furious like Sokka does. She looks… hurt?</p><p>“It’s a Water Tribe scroll,” she says, holding it up so that Zuko can see it. “It’s <em> Water Tribe, </em> and <em> pirates </em> had it. They even admitted to stealing it! Does that really make them the ‘rightful owner’?” </p><p>Zuko takes a step forward, looking from the scroll to Katara’s fierce eyes. </p><p>“It’s stolen from your people,” Zuko clarifies, looking back to the scroll.</p><p>“Do you know why I don’t know waterbending, Zuko?” Katara asks. “It’s because the Fire Nation took away all my tribe’s waterbenders. I’m only alive because my mother…” She hesitates, and then reaches up to touch the hollow of her throat. “Because my mother protected me when the Fire Nation came for me, too. So there was nobody to teach me waterbending. I’ve had to teach myself everything I know.”</p><p>She glares at Zuko.</p><p>“So tell me again who this <em> rightfully </em>belongs to.”</p><p>Zuko looks back at the waterbending scroll. </p><p>He thinks of the house built around the stolen beam. </p><p>What happens if the wronged party doesn’t come to the courts? What happens if they tear down the house themselves to retrieve the stolen beam? </p><p>Two wrongs don’t make a right, Zuko reminds himself. The courts still have to handle the matter. There’s a reason for rule of law. It protects everyone from ‘might makes right’. </p><p>Zuko looks back up at Katara. Her expression has softened a little, and her eyes don’t seem to have left Zuko’s once. </p><p>But what happens if there are no courts? What happens if nobody is there to hear the case of the house built around the stolen beam? </p><p>Or worse, what happens if the system is so thoroughly rotten that there is no hope for justice?</p><p>Zuko takes a step back, and then nods at Katara. </p><p>Zuko has no authority on this case. This is between the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom. And Katara hasn’t asked for his counsel. </p><p>Katara offers Zuko something like a smile. It’s small and fragile, and Zuko isn’t sure if it’s supposed to be victorious or grateful. But either way, the moment is broken, and Katara and Aang return to waterbending practice. </p><p>Zuko expects this to be the end of the issue. He sits back down, retrieving his letters and readying himself to craft responses, only to find that the tension builds once again - this time between Katara and Aang. </p><p>Katara almost makes Aang cry. </p><p>She apologises almost immediately afterwards, but Zuko still feels a little off-balance by the experience. The Avatar is a <em> child. </em>A child who can be brought near to tears by an instructor being sharp with him. </p><p>(Before Zuko became a Fire Sage, he was used to regular sharp words from his instructors. He was used to being burned if he couldn’t get out of the way on time. And Zuko knew that this was his own fault, so it never would have occurred to him to look at any of his teachers the way that Aang looks at Katara.)</p><p>Aang is talented. That’s apparently part of the problem. But if he isn’t able to grow up, and fast, there’s no way he’s going to be able to fight the Fire Lord. </p><p>Zuko turns back to his counsel letters. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>(Not long afterwards, Zuko fishes a healing balm from his pocket and hands it to Katara, for the reddening spot where she whipped herself with water.</p><p>“How much do you <em> have </em> in those pockets?” Sokka exclaims, and apparently this is another thing for him to dislike Zuko over.)</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“I have clothing,” Zuko snaps, glaring at the items the other kids have brought back from the Earth Kingdom town.</p><p>Sokka squares his shoulders, clearly preparing for another argument, and Zuko feels himself deflate. He is too tired to deal with this. </p><p>Zuko changes into green and brown clothing. It’s too loose on him, and the material feels scratchy. The sleeves and trousers are so long they cover his metal cuffs, and even cover most of Zuko’s shoes and hands. But at least the tunic hides the handprint burn on Zuko’s left forearm. He’ll appreciate not having to look at that.</p><p>Zuko ties the sash as tightly as he can, and then returns to their campsite.</p><p>“Sorry,” Sokka says, a half-smile on his features as he looks over Zuko’s too-loose clothing. “It’s kind of hard to judge the size of you under that tent. You’re actually kind of little.” </p><p>“I am <em> not </em> ‘little’,” Zuko hisses. “I’m the same height as you.” </p><p>“Hah! You wish,” Sokka replies, which makes absolutely no sense, because they are objectively almost the exact same height. And Zuko doesn’t understand how Sokka can go so quickly from angry to… whatever this is. “That tunic is going to slip right off your shoulders.” </p><p>Zuko’s glare deepens. </p><p>“Here,” Sokka says, and then reaches out to straighten the tunic. His fingers brush the bare skin of Zuko’s neck, and the contact makes Zuko jump. </p><p>Sokka clears his throat, and Zuko notices that his face is faintly pink again. Zuko watches him, curious, and Sokka’s hands linger on Zuko’s new clothing for a moment too long.</p><p>Sokka drops his hands eventually, but doesn’t step away.</p><p>“Thanks,” Zuko tries, because the silence is stretching on too long.</p><p>Sokka clears his throat again, and then smiles briefly, and then steps away. </p><p>“You look stupid,” Sokka states before turning and walking away.</p><p>Zuko is so confused. </p><p>He looks over to the other kids in hopes of clarification, but all Katara offers is: “Wow.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko does not like the Earth Kingdom clothes. </p><p>He’s worn the same uniform for five years now. Even if the Earth Kingdom clothing fit him properly, it would still feel wrong. It’s the wrong material, the wrong shape, the wrong colour. But beyond that, it feels like a lie. It feels like a disguise. And Zuko is a Fire Sage of Agni. The pursuit of truth is his goal. This outfit is a symbol of insincerity. </p><p>Zuko also doesn’t appreciate how much the outfit makes Sokka snicker. They trek through the woods together in an attempt to gain some ground on whoever might be following them without having Appa spotted in the sky, and Zuko trips over the edge of his trousers more than once. But Katara seems amused by Sokka’s amusement, and this lifts Aang’s spirits too, so at least the incessant arguing from before seems to have settled down.</p><p>And then, of course, they stumble into a Fire Nation camp.</p><p>And Zuko cannot even claim the authority of his station, because who would look at a boy in Earth Kingdom clothing that barely fits and believe that he is a Fire Sage? </p><p>Zuko blocks the incoming fire. </p><p>“It’s a direct attack,” Zuko explains, taking a fighting stance. “I can fight back.” </p><p>Sokka makes a frustrated sound, and Zuko is very sure that he’s about to have an argument with Sokka throughout an altercation with the Fire Nation soldiers-- </p><p>Only to find that they don’t need to engage at all. </p><p>When the fight is over, the Earth Kingdom children who fell from the trees make their way through the belongings of the Fire Nation camp. Zuko holds himself back from demanding they stop, reminding himself of Katara and the waterbending scroll. But he does approach the leader, because as much as Zuko understands that he is not being called upon to make a ruling, he also cannot sit back without being complicit in a crime.</p><p>“I trust you understand that theft is both illegal and immoral,” Zuko says. The leader, who is leaning against a tree and talking with Katara, looks up at Zuko with a lazily raised eyebrow. </p><p>“According to who?” he asks. </p><p><em> According to whom, </em>Zuko thinks, and holds himself back from making the correction.</p><p>“Every established moral code I’ve ever come across,” Zuko responds. He glances at Katara, who looks a little pinched and unhappy, and decides that now is not a time for preaching. He’d been wrong with Katara, after all. “I’m sure there’s a reason you think otherwise. Would you be able to explain to me?”</p><p>The boy narrows his eyes for a moment, expression searching, and then shrugs. “I figure it’s like this,” he says. “The Fire Nation took everything from us. Our families. Our homes.” He looks out to the other kids. “All they’ve brought here is war and devastation. We’re not even starting to level the playing field, not really.” He looks away from Zuko and toward his friends. “We all lost everything to the Fire Nation. We’ll do everything we can against them. That’s the war they chose to fight.”</p><p>Cold sweeps down Zuko’s spine. </p><p>There are really no courts handling these matters. </p><p>“My name is Zuko,” he greets, offering a shallow bow. “I appreciate you explaining this to me.” </p><p>Katara smiles at him over Jet’s shoulder. Zuko doesn’t know what he did to deserve it.</p><p>“I’m Jet,” the boy responds. “These are my freedom fighters.” </p><p>Freedom fighters. Zuko looks out at them. They’re children, too - some are younger than even the Avatar. They shouldn’t need to reference established moral codes yet, because there should be adults ensuring that the world is working in their favour. And yet here they are, stealing from the soldiers who stole their freedom, all in an attempt to gain back some of the freedom that was ripped out from under them. </p><p>“I like your swords,” Zuko says after a moment, eyeing the hooked swords Jet has propped up against the tree. “I trained in twin swords when I was young.”</p><p>Jet smiles at Zuko with half of his mouth. It has an edge to it, like he’s seeking to challenge Zuko. For what, Zuko doesn’t understand.</p><p>“Oh yeah?” he says, nodding down to the swords. “Want to give them a spin?” </p><p>Zuko does. </p><p>And it isn’t combat. It’s just recreation. </p><p>He touches the swords, and then looks down to his outfit. The looseness might be helpful for moving, but his sleeves and pants are too long. He takes a moment to roll up his sleeves to his elbows, and tries something similar but less effective with his trousers.</p><p>And then, finally, Zuko grasps the hooked swords and tests their weight. </p><p>It’s been a long time. Zuko learned with swords in a time that was technically, legally, a past life. He’s been reborn in fire since, has spent years away from weaponry of any kind. </p><p>But somehow, standing with swords in his hands feels right. It feels like he can hear Master Piandao’s voice, stern and encouraging, as he spins and turns and strikes. </p><p>Zuko goes through steps he’d assumed long forgotten. The swords slice through the air, dance around him and around one another, and Zuko breathes steadily. </p><p>It feels good.</p><p>Zuko finishes with the swords back at his sides, and lets himself breathe for a moment before he returns to the moment. </p><p><em> “What?” </em>Sokka exclaims from somewhere behind him. Zuko very deliberately chooses to ignore him. </p><p>“Huh,” Jet says. He’s standing properly now, no longer slouched against the tree. “That was some fancy footwork there. You said you trained?” </p><p>“When I was a child,” Zuko replies, and hands the swords back. “It was a long time ago. I wasn’t sure I’d remember anything.”</p><p>Jet stops close to Zuko, eyes glinting. “Looks to me like you remember just fine,” he says with a grin.</p><p>Zuko smiles hesitantly back. “Thank you for letting me try.” </p><p>“Anytime,” Jet replies. He finally takes the swords, but then he nods downward. “That’s a nasty burn scar. You piss off a firebender?”</p><p>The smile drops from Zuko’s face. He pushes his sleeves back down. “Yeah.” </p><p>“Was it worth it?” Jet asks. </p><p>“It didn’t change anything I wanted to change,” Zuko admits, pressing his palm to the hidden hand-shaped scar. His heart beats a little faster as he remembers falling to his knees before the Fire Lord. “But I think it’s always worth standing up for what is right.” </p><p>When he looks up at Jet, the smile on his face is bright and a little unnerving. “Well, I can’t disagree with that.” </p><p>They end up following Jet and his friends back to their hideout in the woods. Katara and Aang seem excited by everything they come by. Sokka seems less impressed, and keeps throwing Jet suspicious looks. </p><p>“I’m not so sure about this guy,” Sokka informs him. They’re standing on a bridge between the trees. Zuko doesn’t know anything about engineering, but he’s fairly certain this is quite a feat. “He just gives me this… <em> off </em> feeling.”</p><p>If Katara and Aang could hear, they would mock Sokka for his ‘instincts’ again. </p><p>“He seems okay to me,” Zuko responds. “I can’t… condone what they do, but I can understand it. There are no just courts here to arbitrate between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom.”</p><p>Sokka makes that low, frustrated sound that he so often does around Zuko. “I didn’t mean that!” he insists. “Why is it always ‘law’ and ‘morality’ with you? I mean that something feels <em> off, </em>Zuko, and Aang and Katara are too busy being dazzled to see it.” </p><p>Zuko looks up at Sokka, surprised, and then looks over to where Jet is talking to the other kids. </p><p>Sokka huffs. “Maybe you’re too busy being dazzled, too.” He folds his arms. “You sure seemed to like it when he was falling all over himself about your <em> fancy footwork.”  </em></p><p>Zuko frowns, looking back to Sokka. </p><p>“It’s not like we’re planning to stay forever,” he says, choosing to ignore Sokka’s confusing accusation. “Let Katara and Aang have their fun, and we’ll leave tonight.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>They don’t make plans to leave. Sokka gives Zuko a significant look over dinner as Jet talks Katara and Aang into staying for a mission. </p><p>Zuko shrugs. It doesn’t make much of a difference to him whether or not they stay another day. </p><p>And then everything goes wrong. </p><p>It falls apart for what seems immediately like the most mundane reason. They’re finishing their dinner, and Katara is prodding nervously at her undercooked fish. So Zuko leans forward, over Jet who is seated between them, and sends a quick blast of heat to Katara’s food.</p><p>Katara smiles up at him. “Thanks, Zuko,” she says, her voice softened from the edge it usually has around him.</p><p>“You’re welcome,” Zuko replies, and he goes to make a comment about his firebending being useful for <em> something, </em>only to be unceremoniously shoved by Jet. </p><p>“You’re a <em> firebender!” </em>Jet exclaims, scrambling to his feet and drawing his swords. “Fire Nation - in my camp!” </p><p>Zuko remains seated, but his spine straightens. </p><p>After a moment of confusion, he remembers: he isn’t wearing his robes. Jet and his friends don’t have any way to place him as Fire Nation, unless they pay close attention to the colour of his eyes. </p><p>Zuko swallows.</p><p>“I am Fire Nation,” he admits. “I apologise. It didn’t occur to me that it wasn’t obvious. I didn’t mean to deceive anyone.” </p><p>“Get up and fight,” Jet snarls. </p><p>Zuko eyes Jet’s swords, and then glances around them. There’s a crowd of kids here, all of whom are now staring at him. Jet isn’t going to be the only person fighting for long, even if Zuko does hold his own. </p><p>Zuko presses his lips together, thinking.</p><p>“I took a vow,” he says eventually, as carefully as he can manage, “as a Fire Sage. I am only permitted to fight in self-defence, extended or otherwise.” </p><p>Jet spits the grass out of his mouth. “You can sit there and I’ll cut you down, or you can stand and defend yourself, ashmaker. I don’t much care which.” </p><p>Zuko looks around again. He doesn’t want to firebend here, surrounded by wood. If the wrong thing catches fire, it could bring the whole structure down. </p><p>“Jet,” Katara says, scrambling to stand beside him. She attempts to lay a hand on Jet’s arm, but he shrugs her off. “Zuko doesn’t mean any harm. He’s on our side.”</p><p>“I am <em> not </em> on the side of the Fire Nation,” Jet spits. </p><p>“Well, neither is Zuko,” Sokka points out. It’s only now that Zuko notices that Sokka has been shifting on his knees until he’s sitting between Zuko and Jet. One of his hands is raised, open, towards Jet - like he could defend himself that way from the swords. </p><p>Zuko stands up, dusting off his Earth Kingdom clothing. He doesn’t want Sokka to be between them. If Jet strikes, it should be at Zuko, not at a third party. </p><p>In seconds, it seems that the whole camp is standing. </p><p>Zuko’s pulse picks up. </p><p>“How could a <em> firebender </em>not be on the side of the Fire Nation?” Jet asks. He looks curious now, underneath layers of suspicion. </p><p>Zuko holds his head high. “I <em> am </em> on the side of the Fire Nation,” he insists, which causes a shift in the air. “Which pits me <em> against </em>the Fire Lord.” </p><p>“You can’t even get your own story straight.” Jet raises his swords. </p><p>“Wait!” Aang insists, bursting in and standing in front of Zuko. </p><p>Zuko glares at the back of Aang’s head. </p><p>“Just wait,” Aang says. “Let him explain, okay? Zuko is helping me, and I’m the Avatar - he’s helping me to restore balance to the world. He’s one of the good guys. When we met, he was helping to defend us against the Fire Nation soldiers.” </p><p>Silence hangs in the air for a long moment.</p><p>The other children of the camp are watching their leader carefully for a reaction.</p><p>Katara, Sokka, and Aang have all placed themselves near Zuko. Sokka is standing just behind him, giving him cover from the other kids. Katara is close to Jet, hand still outstretched like he’s a frightened animal. Aang is directly in front of Zuko, but Zuko can see over his head to where Jet is staring straight at him, eyes piercing. </p><p>And then Jet’s eyes flicker down to Zuko’s left forearm and the scar now covered by his sleeve. </p><p>“I’ll tell you what,” Jet says, each word slow and deliberate. “Zuko of the Fire Nation. If you denounce the Fire Nation right now - if you say that, in those words, then I’ll <em> consider </em> not attacking you.”</p><p>Zuko’s eyes narrow.</p><p>Jet knows what he’s doing, he realises. Zuko has already declared himself against the Fire Lord by virtue of being on the side of the Fire Nation. Jet is asking him to say something that he knows Zuko cannot and will not say, in order to hold it up as his attempt at mercy.</p><p>Zuko hates when people do this. He hates when people manipulate the crowd into accepting their actions using an illusion of choice. He’s seen it enough in a legal setting. But when he’s approached for counsel, Zuko can act as the objective decider spelling out what is happening. Here, in these woods and surrounded by these children, nobody is going to listen to him.</p><p>“You know I cannot do that,” Zuko replies. “My loyalty is with my nation.”</p><p>“But you know that’s not what he means,” Sokka states, sounding annoyed. For a moment, something loosens in Zuko’s chest. He’s grateful that somebody else has noticed the way that Jet has moved the pieces on this Pai Sho board. “He already told you: loyalty to the Fire Nation means <em> not </em> being loyal to the Fire Lord.” </p><p>“Zuko is going to help us bring balance to the world,” Aang adds. “Avatar Roku told me himself.” </p><p>Zuko flinches.</p><p>Jet, unfortunately, notices. </p><p>“Really?” Jet pushes, eyes alight as he watches Zuko’s face. “That’s what you’re going to do? Bring balance to the world?”</p><p>Zuko breathes deeply, centering himself.</p><p>“I did tell you,” Zuko says, keeping his voice as quiet as he reasonably can, “that the world is not the rebalance I’m working on.” </p><p>“Oh, this is going to be good,” Jet states. </p><p>Zuko glares. “The imbalance I am called to correct is an imbalance at the heart of the Fire Nation,” he explains. “The balance of power between the palace and the temple.”</p><p><em> “What?” </em>Katara bursts. She turns to look at Zuko directly, her eyes wide and betrayed. “Zuko, what are you talking about?”</p><p>“The Fire Nation was born with a system of balance at its heart--” </p><p>“It’s not your fault,” Jet says to Katara, tilting his head toward her. His eyes are still on Zuko, like Zuko can’t be trusted without being properly monitored. “The Fire Nation are like this: they’re self-serving and manipulative. They’ll tell you anything to get you to hand them power.” </p><p>“I’m not looking for power,” Zuko hisses, fury settling into his core. “I’m looking to right what has been set wrong.”</p><p>“Didn’t you say you took a vow as a Fire Sage?” Jet asks. “You just said you’re looking to rebalance the power to give more power to… who, exactly?”</p><p>Zuko does not correct his grammar. </p><p>It’s very difficult.</p><p>“Oh,” Katara says, and when Zuko looks at her… it looks like Katara is moments away from crying. </p><p>“It’s not like Jet is making it sound.”</p><p>But nobody is listening to Zuko anymore, because Jet has positioned his pieces on the board so that Zuko doesn’t have any more moves left. </p><p>(Zuko has always hated Pai Sho. He hated it when Uncle Iroh tried to teach him as a child. He hated it when Fire Sage Youta dragged him away from his studies to play a game. He hates it even more now, feeling like a piece that is about to be removed from the board.) </p><p>“Maybe you should go back to Appa,” Aang suggests, his voice quieter than normal. “We’ll come find you tomorrow after the mission.” </p><p>Jet nods to a few of his friends. </p><p>“I can tell you’re really upset about this betrayal,” Jet says, his voice soft in a way that does not ring true to Zuko at all. “But since he <em> was </em> a friend of yours, we’ll let him go.”</p><p>Zuko stares at Jet for a long moment, and Jet’s gaze is just as unwavering. </p><p>Aang, Katara, and Sokka don’t object. </p><p>Zuko is off-balance for a moment as he wonders whether the children he’s been travelling with understand what’s happening here. Because there’s no way Jet is letting him go back to Appa to camp by himself and wait for the others. </p><p>Zuko looks over to the others, and none of them will meet his eyes. </p><p>Are they simply unwilling to say out loud that they’re attempting to send him to his death? </p><p>“Very well,” Zuko says carefully, and takes his leave.</p><p>It’s not like it’s the first time his current allies have turned against him. Zuko has been braced for something like this to happen since the moment they escaped Crescent Island. These kinds of relationships just aren’t for him - or, perhaps more accurately, he wasn’t built for them. Even his birth family gave him up as swiftly and completely as possible. Zuko hasn’t heard a word from the men who raised him for two years in the High Temple since they had him shipped to Crescent Island. </p><p>Of course he shouldn’t expect three children on their own mission to care about what happens to him. </p><p>Zuko tells himself that he feels nothing about this as he walks toward Appa, well aware that the woods have eyes.</p><p>When he reaches Appa, Zuko takes a moment to pet his soft fur before finding the bag containing his robes.</p><p>“If you’re going to kill me,” he says, “I would rather die in my Fire Sage robes.”</p><p>There is silence as Zuko changes his clothing. There is silence for so long that Zuko almost wonders if he has misread the situation, if he’s really only being watched for the safety of the camp. </p><p>Zuko removes Momo from his hat. Momo blinks up at him and Zuko smiles, briefly, before placing Momo on one of Appa’s huge paws. Then he walks away from the bison, heart beating hard. </p><p>There’s a shuffle in the trees. Zuko turns to face it, and eyes the arrow pointed in his direction.</p><p>“I was really hoping we didn’t have to do this,” Zuko says, and falls into stance. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>By the time Zuko escapes from the woods, he has one bloody gash on his bare arm. </p><p>(The kids are fine, but they might be a little spooked. Zuko imagines that he hasn’t done much to assuage their fear of firebenders. But at least their fight took place far away from the camp, so no feat of engineering was sacrificed for Zuko’s safety.) </p><p>Luckily, Zuko always carries a healing balm and some cloth with him. Once he finds a source of water, he will be able to take care of himself and move on. </p><p>(Without the vague plans of following the Avatar and learning from him about the way the world used to be, Zuko doesn’t know where he will be moving on to. He needs to stop and think at some point. But that can be saved for later.) </p><p>Zuko finds his way to the nearby town, mostly because the cover of other people is likely to keep him from being directly attacked by Jet and Jet’s fighters, which may or may not now include the Water Tribe kids and the Avatar. The Avatar might not be well-trained in anything but airbending, but Zuko doesn’t really want to try fighting him, and he certainly doesn’t want to try fighting him along with a whole crowd of other children. Getting out of that alive without hurting anyone will likely be… tricky. </p><p>Zuko is harried, messy, and more than a little angry when he walks into the Earth Kingdom town. Luckily, the town is crawling with Fire Nation warriors, and thus his status as a Fire Sage is likely to keep him from being attacked <em> again </em>today. </p><p>“Fire Sage!” one of the soldiers exclaims, running forward to greet Zuko with a bow. “To what do we owe this honour?”</p><p>Zuko sighs. </p><p>“I’m in need of a place to stay for the night,” he says. “I can be on my way in the morning. I’ve been… It’s a long story. Can I offer my services in exchange for a bed for the night?” </p><p>The soldier blinks at him. “Of course, Fire Sage,” he says, and bows again. “You don’t need to offer your services. We’ll be honoured to have you with us. But… um, don’t leave before you talk with Private Masayuki and Private Aimi?” The soldier’s eyes widen and he bows again. “They have been hoping to see a sage, Great Teacher, and had little hope.”</p><p>Zuko watches the soldier, and wonders how Kenji hoped for their people to be attended to in spiritual matters when they were out to war - and that isn’t even touching the numerous legal and ethical matters that were no doubt arising. Were they setting up smaller temples in the Earth Kingdom, or was that an inappropriate statement of permanence? Were any sages travelling? </p><p>(Zuko thinks he should probably know the answer to these questions, and feels a twinge of guilt that it hasn’t occurred to him to ask.)</p><p>“Arise,” he says. “There’s no need to call me Great Teacher. Fire Sage Zuko is fine.”</p><p>“Fire Sage Zuko,” the soldier responds. </p><p>“It will be my honour to hear cases.” Zuko straightens a little, tiredness seeping into his bones. “Is there anything that cannot wait until the morning?” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Fire Sage Zuko rises with the sun, gives morning offerings to Agni, bathes in an actual house and not a stream, and stands before the people of Gaipan to give counsel.</p><p>The first thing that he notices is that, despite the fact that Gaipan continues to have residents of Earth Kingdom origin, no such resident has come to stand before him. </p><p>The second is that Privates Aimi and Masayuki are holding hands.</p><p>“Oh,” Zuko says, eyeing their hands. “I see.” </p><p>This is not where he thought today’s activities would lead. </p><p>“Fire Sage Zuko,” Private Masayuki says, his eyes bright with hope. “We would like to petition you for our marriage.” </p><p>Zuko can’t say no. For a start, there’s no logical or legal reason to deny them at this juncture. This is part of his role, even if it’s a part he’s never had to fulfil before.</p><p>(Zuko has worked on dozens of divorce cases. Usually, a powerful husband wants to ruin his wife’s life when the marriage falls through, and Zuko is left to pick up the pieces and ensure that the divorce goes through properly. But he’s never been asked to be a part of the formation of a marriage before. His specialty is in law, because it isn’t difficult to read books and believe in the absolute necessity of justice. This is… more than a little beyond him.)</p><p>And beyond that, there is a reason Privates Masayuki and Aimi are so excited that a Fire Sage is passing through. They can’t be wed without a sage present, and they are likely struggling to receive permission to travel to a temple. Zuko is their only chance to be wed anytime soon.</p><p>“Of course you may petition me,” Zuko agrees. “Will you be prepared before sunset today?” </p><p>Private Aimi nods. “We gathered everything we need last night, when we heard of your arrival,” she explains. “Great Teacher, we can be prepared before midday if you would be so kind as to hear our petition.” </p><p>Zuko doesn’t have anything scheduled. </p><p>“Before midday is quick,” he points out. “Will you be able to announce your plans to the whole village?”</p><p>Private Masayuki hesitates, looking confused. “To the whole village?” he asks. “The soldiers and our families, you mean?”</p><p>Zuko tilts his head. “All the residents need to be invited, and any strangers within the gates. Weddings are by nature public affairs. All must be made welcome.”</p><p>There’s a distinct pause while the soldiers process Zuko’s words. Zuko doesn’t understand why this would be the case. It’s clear in the rules of weddings that everyone in the place of the celebration must be expressly invited. </p><p>Eventually, Private Aimi bows. “Of course, Great Teacher,” she says. “We can be ready by midday, with… everyone invited.”</p><p>Zuko suspects that his smile is as unsure as her own. “Then I will see you at midday,” he states. </p><p>Zuko spends some time going over the specific details of the ceremony with other soldiers. While Zuko has only been to a few weddings himself, mostly shadowing Fire Sage Tatsuya, he does recall the order of events due to divorce proceedings. A good divorce includes an attention to detail on every element of the wedding ceremony as it occurred, partly to ensure that there is no reason to cast doubt on the legality of the ceremony itself. </p><p>(Zuko should probably not mention to the bride and groom that his knowledge of the building of marriages is mostly due to his knowledge of how to tear them down. He probably shouldn't mention that any knowledge he has on relationships - family, friendships, even allyship - is truly only knowledge on how easily they can be taken away.)</p><p>By midday, they are ready. </p><p>The soldiers have divided the guests around the space where the ceremonial fire will be lit, with the Earth Kingdom residents on one side and the Fire Nation residents and soldiers on the other. It’s an odd set-up, but technically legal. </p><p>Zuko sits cross-legged at the front before the set table, facing the guests. He casts his gaze over the table, the teas and the flowers and the bowls, ensuring that everything is present and accounted for. When he is satisfied, Zuko lowers his head and waits for Privates Aimi and Masayuki to approach him to make their petition. </p><p>Aimi is wearing an anklet with bells. Zuko can hear her every step as they approach, arm in arm. When they stand before the table, Zuko raises his head. He sweeps out an arm, indicating that they may be seated. </p><p>Every moment of the petition is prescribed. Zuko relaxes into this, because the prescription means that all he has to do is be a vessel for Agni’s blessing. </p><p>The pair pour the first cup. Zuko drinks.</p><p>“Tell me of your petition,” he orders. </p><p>“We wish to be wed,” Masayuki states. </p><p>They continue as prescribed until the third cup. This is where the tradition loosens, allowing for Fire Sage Zuko to understand the couple as unique individuals before him.</p><p>His heart beats fiercely. Zuko reminds himself that this isn’t about him, but it isn’t much comfort. He has seen first-hand how destructive a bad marriage can be. Even before he was a Fire Sage, he’s seen this. </p><p>“How long have you known one another?” he asks. </p><p>Three years. They met in training. They were friends first, separated for a brief period, and then confessed feelings for one another when they were stationed together.</p><p>“Why do you want to be married?” he asks. </p><p>Love. Honour. One day, when they are done fighting, to start a family. To declare before the world that they intend to be together forever.</p><p>Zuko nods and places the third cup down. It’s not empty. </p><p>Aimi and Masayuki look at the last of the tea in the cup, eyes wide and worried, and then look up to Fire Sage Zuko. </p><p>Zuko draws a deep breath. </p><p>He turns his face to Masayuki. </p><p>“Do you believe,” he starts, and then hesitates on the wording. Masayuki’s eyes are very intense. “Do you believe that this marriage would put Aimi in your ownership?” </p><p>It’s not a simple question. Legally, the origins of marriage lie in the exchange of ownership between a woman’s father and her husband. Zuko suspects that Masayuki knows this. But the assumption of ownership has been at the heart of the worst divorces Zuko has seen. It’s been at the heart of the worst cases Zuko has seen at all: ownership of wives, of children, of servants, of land, even of animals. </p><p>Masayuki glances at Aimi, and Zuko sees an apology in his eyes before he turns to Zuko.</p><p>Zuko braces. </p><p>“No,” Masayuki admits. “I don’t wish to own Aimi. I do wish for us to belong to one another, but… Great Teacher, if you want me to take ownership of her, I can’t do that.” </p><p>Relief rushes through Zuko. </p><p>He reaches forward for the third cup and finishes it, and then places it back down. </p><p>“You may pour,” he states, gesturing to the large, ornate teacup in the centre between them. </p><p>Masayuki lets out a loud breath of relief and turns to Aimi for a moment. They press their foreheads together. And then Aimi reaches to the final pot and pours half of the tea. </p><p>Masayuki pours the other half. </p><p>They sit back and look to Zuko.</p><p>Zuko thinks for a moment. There is no appropriate wording for this moment in the ceremony. There are many options, and Zuko has never had to choose one before.</p><p>He looks between Masayuki’s face and Aimi’s. </p><p>Finally, Zuko nods. </p><p>“If you truly love,” he quotes, “give away your heart to make half of a greater whole, and follow it for the rest of your days.” </p><p>Zuko gestures to the cup. “You may drink and bind yourselves.” </p><p>Aimi and Masayuki drink, passing the cup between themselves, until it is empty. </p><p>Zuko stands and bows, and then sweeps around the table to the middle of the room. He extends a hand to light the ceremonial fire for the couple to walk around.</p><p>They begin the first of seven circuits, joined at the hands. The bells on Aimi’s ankle sound gently as they walk. Between the circuits, Aimi and Masayuki exchange vows. </p><p>After the seventh circuit of the ceremonial fire, Zuko feels himself flooded with happiness as he declares them wed. </p><p>The roar of joy from the Fire Nation soldiers almost knocks Zuko from his feet. He finds himself laughing, caught in the throwing of rice. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>If Zuko had estimated the trajectory of his day when meeting Aimi and Masayuki, he would have assumed that the wedding would be difficult and the counsel, while legally tricky, would be more emotionally simple.</p><p>It appears that he had the order flipped. </p><p>While the prospect of the wedding filled Zuko with nerves, the ceremony itself was an honour. The state of the village, functioning as both a home and a military outpost, is more complicated. </p><p>The sergeant with whom Zuko has been discussing has clearly spent some of the celebration crying. Judging by his expression, today is also not going the way he had planned. </p><p>“I don’t understand what you’re telling me to do, Fire Sage Zuko,” he admits.</p><p>“I’m saying that there is too much wrong here for me to take individual cases right now,” Zuko explains. “The whole outpost is set up unethically.”</p><p>The sergeant’s posture shifts and his eyes narrow. “How can you say that? You’ve been here a handful of hours, most of them sleeping or partaking in--” A smile ghosts over his face. “I don’t understand what you could have seen that’s so wrong, sir. Fire Sage.” </p><p>“None of your Earth Kingdom residents came to me for counsel,” Zuko says. “That’s how I knew to look for a structural problem.”</p><p>“Why would they come to you for counsel? You’re a <em> Fire </em>Sage.”</p><p>“Yes, and a legal arbitrator to whom you are beholden.” Zuko turns to look out toward the village. “Unless you were somehow running a perfect society, there’s never a case in which <em> nobody </em>has a complaint they’d like an established court to see through. And, Sergeant, this is an occupied village. It’s not perfect.” </p><p>The sergeant is quiet for long enough that Zuko looks back toward him. </p><p>“Please explain,” the sergeant requests. </p><p>Zuko hesitates, trying to cut through the laws of war enough to make sense of what is bothering him here. </p><p>“Military occupation,” he says, “is by definition temporary. The Fire Nation cannot take land, because the world was divided by the spirits, not by the nations. This is Earth Kingdom land, even if the village decided to share it and create a mixed village. The spirits saw fit that this land should belong to the people of Earth, not Fire. So our presence here can only be temporary, as a means of war. Do you understand the problem?”</p><p>Sergeant Kichiro is frowning, but he doesn’t seem angry. Zuko takes this as a win.</p><p>“You think we’ve set this outpost up as if we’re planning to stay, and you think that’s illegal?” </p><p>Zuko nods. “That’s part of your problem. That’s the structural issue.” He lifts a hand. “The other issue is… Sergeant, when one nation occupies the land of another in war, that first nation takes total responsibility for the people on the land that is being occupied.” The sergeant’s eyes grow a little wide. “They are, <em> temporarily, </em>our citizens. Not when it comes to our rights over them, but when it comes to our responsibilities. We are interfering with their ability to be homed, to be fed.” </p><p>“Are you being serious?” Sergeant Kichiro asks. </p><p>Zuko holds his head high. “If we are unable to take that responsibility, then we have no place in occupying a settled area for a military outpost.” The sergeant’s eyes appear to be unblinking as he watches Zuko. “Do you understand, Sergeant? The fact that the people for whom you are responsible do not think it appropriate to come to me with their complaints is concerning.” </p><p>“This is not how I was taught to lead,” Sergeant Kichiro says. </p><p>Zuko bows his head. “Then I am afraid you were grossly misinformed as to the teaching of our great tradition and the will of Agni.” He takes a breath, trying to figure out how to begin unweaving the complex tapestry before them. “I have counsel for you. I also wish to lead the soldiers in public worship. And then I shall spend time with your Earth Kingdom residents.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Many hours later, tired from a day of doing the work of an active Fire Sage instead of following the Avatar on his mission, Zuko recognises that he bought himself good favour in the officiation of the wedding earlier in the day. The soldiers are not easy to convince to follow in the ways of their great tradition. They have been taught poorly. Sometimes, it appears they have been taught <em> against </em>the way of Agni. </p><p>(Anger at the Fire Lord simmers under Zuko’s skin.)</p><p>But having started his day with a blessing these soldiers have been long waiting to participate in has softened them a touch. Zuko thinks there’s good work he can do here.</p><p>(He isn’t sure where he will go next. He doesn’t know how to correct the imbalance at the heart of the Fire Nation. Appealing to the High Sage and the Fire Lord has done no favours. Allying himself with the Avatar has almost led to his death. But at least Zuko has been able to make some small difference to one small village.)</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The next day, the village is swept away in a flood.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Earth I (Part II)</h2></a>
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  <span>High Sage Kenji’s hands seem to have developed a tremble. </span>
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  <span>“He will have a funeral as befitting a Fire Sage,” Kenji says, holding his voice as firm as possible. “That is the clear recourse for such a scenario.” </span>
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  <span>Fire Lord Ozai’s eyes flicker down Kenji’s body to his hands. Kenji holds them as still as he can.</span>
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  <span>“The boy was caught betraying his nation in his final moments,” Fire Lord Ozai replies. “He is to be declared a heretic and a traitor to his nation.” </span>
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  <span>The sages shift behind Kenji.</span>
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<p>
  <span>“Fire Lord.” Kenji waits until the Fire Lord looks back up to his eyes, away from his hands. “That is not a judgment we can make posthumously. Fire Sage Zuko is no longer--” Kenji draws a sharp breath, small enough that he hopes to have gotten away with the emotional outburst, “alive, to defend himself before a court.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am certain that we can declare treason and heresy even when a sage has fled from his post.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are correct, of course,” Kenji allows. “We are able to declare treason when the defendant has fled. We are also able to declare treason and heresy of a Fire Sage who does not respond to the call to return and see judgment.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then that is what you’ll do,” Fire Lord Ozai declares, and waves a dismissive hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kenji does not narrow his eyes. He has better control than that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We are able to make those declarations when an individual or a sage is considered a threat,” Kenji explains. “That extreme action is allowed in order to thwart such a threat. Please explain before us the threat that you see in Fire Sage Zuko.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kenji has probably said too much.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Fire Lord’s eyes narrow as he watches Kenji. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The boy will have a funeral as befitting a Fire Sage, because he died a Fire Sage in good standing,” Kenji insists. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But ultimately, Kenji has no power to insist. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you will not declare the child a heretic and a traitor, so be it,” the Fire Lord responds. “You are correct that he poses no future risk to us. But there will be no funeral. Neither public nor private. His memory has not earned the honour.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kenji’s fire simmers beneath his skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sages behind him are restless and unhappy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well,” High Sage Kenji allows. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time, there is no body to bury. There is no marked grave to visit or to avoid. No former wife to blame him for abandoning his connection to the man who was once their son. All Kenji has is the victory of allowing this boy to retain his name and status. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It will have to be enough. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko is talking to a mother with a toddler on her hip when it happens. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you going to stay?” Meifen asks. She shifts the toddler on her hip. The child in question is watching Zuko with wide, curious eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko blinks, first at the toddler, and then at Meifen. “I don’t know what my plans are,” he admits. “I thought I was in transit, but… I don’t know where to.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then this is all very nice, but there isn’t any point to it,” Meifen insists.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko clasps his hands together. He wants to cross his arms, but High Priest Kenji once told him that crossing his arms before people seeking counsel might make him seem too stern. And Zuko and Meifen are still in the midst of untangling the issue around her wages and her concerns about being pregnant again - an issue on which no resolution has been found. It won’t do for Zuko, in his red robes and with his attachment to the Fire Nation army, to be read as stern and uncaring.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please elaborate?” Zuko requests.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look, I do understand that you’re… important to them in some way.” She uses her free hand to wave to Zuko’s robes. “But what’s to say everything isn’t going back to normal the moment you’re gone?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Zuko sighs. Meifen has a point. Maybe he should stay and help ensure change in Gaipan, but Zuko also needs to think about how to rebalance the Fire Nation as a whole. Any difference made here will be unsustainable without the sturdy foundation of the Fire Nation behind it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looks back to where Private Ayaka is lecturing her superior officer. She has been Zuko’s best advocate all day. Zuko is glad that amongst stubborn warriors he has found at least one person easily swayed by ethical argument.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know you must be concerned that if you point out the Fire Nation soldiers are breaking their own laws, they will only punish you for pointing out their own unethical behaviour.” Zuko wraps his hand around the scar on his forearm. “I understand that. But I think Private Ayaka is a good person to go to, if you’re worried about the sergeant.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What makes you think that? She hasn’t exactly been knocking on doors like you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This morning, over breakfast, I was explaining the ethical issues behind occupying land to some of the soldiers. Private Ayaka has been talking to the sergeant about it all day,” Zuko explains.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen’s eyebrows draw in. “Doesn’t that seem fickle? That it took until you were here to, what… tell her that it’s wrong? She couldn’t figure it out for herself?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko shrugs. “Sometimes, people need someone to back up their own internal sense of right or wrong before they feel they can stand up for it. But she wants you to trust her, and she is trying. That’s more than nothing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen looks at Zuko for a long moment. Her daughter, who is much too young to be following the conversation, looks just as concerned. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Has trusting people just because they tell you to ever worked out for you?” Meifen asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s shoulders drop as he thinks back over every single relationship of his life. There haven’t been a great many, and none of them have ended well. “Not even once,” he admits in the name of honesty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a long stretch of silence between them as Zuko searches for a reason for Meifen to at least try. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, Meifen smiles at him. “You’re kind of young to be doing this job, aren’t you?” she asks. Her tone is startlingly gentle compared to before. She gestures with her chin toward the soldiers. “They’re adults. Why is a kid trying to clear up their mess?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko blinks. “Waiting for other people to clean up messes isn’t a very effective method.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen watches Zuko for a long moment. She’s frowning, but Zuko thinks she doesn’t look angry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Would you like to come in for tea?” she asks eventually, and steps out of the doorway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko knows that he should probably say no. He has more villagers to speak with, and much work to do before the day is over. But Meifen’s home looks messy and warm, like the opposite of the palace and temples Zuko has grown up in, and maybe she will be more willing to discuss change if Zuko says yes?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s response is on the tip of his tongue when the commotion starts. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen looks over Zuko’s shoulder with a deep frown, and then the volume rises. The soldiers are shouting, and-- </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka?” Zuko asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have to-- </span>
  <em>
    <span>Zuko?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sokka’s intensity doesn’t fade, exactly, but it’s rechannelled in Zuko’s direction. “This is where you-- Oh, thank La,” he says, all in a rush, as he runs toward Zuko. Zuko tries to take a step backward once he’s close, but the wall to Meifen’s house is there, and he can’t dodge quickly enough to avoid Sokka.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka throws his arms around Zuko’s shoulders and squeezes him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It takes Zuko longer than it probably should to recognise that this is a hug. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um,” Zuko says, voice pitched higher than he intends. Sokka’s hair is in his face, and his arms are strong and confining, and Zuko can feel the press of Sokka’s body all down his front. They’re too close. Zuko doesn’t know when he was last anywhere near this close with someone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(He tries, for a moment, to remember. But he honestly can’t recall. The woman who was his mother, maybe?)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It feels… kind of good. It’s like Zuko wants to crawl out of his own skin, but in a good way? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka tears himself away, and Zuko’s whole body shifts towards him like it isn’t ready to let go. And then Zuko’s mind calls up the fact that the last time he saw Sokka was when Sokka let him walk to his death, and suddenly, the idea of touching him isn’t appealing at all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you doing here?” Zuko asks, shifting away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka’s breaths are short and light, like he ran to the village mid-panic. “You have to help make them believe me,” he says, reaching out to Zuko’s shoulders. Zuko shifts away before Sokka can touch him. “Zuko. It’s Jet. He’s going to flood the village.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko straightens his back and narrows his eyes. “Tell me the plan.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The ground shakes under the explosion, and then the water comes rushing in to sweep away the village.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time the water comes, the residents are standing at a distance, safe on higher ground. Sergeant Kichiro stands at Zuko’s side, his eyes wide as he looks on. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do we do now?” Sergeant Kichiro asks Zuko. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko folds his arms across his chest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s the nearest town with Fire Nation presence?” he asks, turning to the sergeant to begin to draft a plan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko!” Sokka calls, rushing toward him. “We have to go find Katara and Aang. They’ll still be with Jet. They could be in trouble.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko blinks, glancing back and forth between Sokka and Sergeant Kichiro. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you need me for?” Zuko asks, not following Sokka’s logic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka hesitates, his stance off-balance like he was just about to run back to Appa and wasn’t expecting to be stopped. “What do you mean?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you expecting a fight with Jet?” Zuko asks, trying to piece together why Sokka is asking him to join. “I can’t fight in that capacity. It wouldn’t be self-defence.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka stares at him for a moment, and then some of the tension leaves his face, but it doesn’t seem to be in a good way. “You’re angry with us. Of course you’re angry. I’m sorry, Zuko - we should never have let Jet kick you out of the camp. You trusted us and we didn’t stand up for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka’s voice is lower than usual, like he’s attempting to imitate a maturity he hasn’t really arrived at yet. But his words don’t make much sense to Zuko, who can only frown at Sokka in confusion, and add: “What are you talking about? I didn’t trust you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a moment of quiet before Sokka flinches, like Zuko’s words took too long to arrive and then landed all wrong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have to… Katara and Aang,” Sokka says, raising his hands in a perplexing gesture, and then he turns and jumps onto Appa’s back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was that about?” Sergeant Kichiro asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It doesn’t matter,” Zuko replies. “We need to draft a plan for getting everyone to safety.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko puts Sokka and the others out of his mind while Sergeant Kichiro calls together some of his soldiers and begins to plot a course to safety. They don’t need Zuko’s guidance in this kind of planning, but Zuko notes that they don’t consider abandoning their Earth Kingdom residents. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time Zuko is starting to think that the soldiers have this situation as controlled as it can be, Appa reappears in the sky. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko blinks up at the bison, and then down at a tiny pair of hands pulling at his robe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen’s daughter stares up at him, round-eyed and silent.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi,” Zuko says. “Where’s your mom?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen’s daughter lifts her arms, her soft cheeks puffed out in what might be an attempt at a frown. Zuko hesitates, glancing up at the crowd to try to locate Meifen, and then the toddler draws in a loud breath like she’s about to shout.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh no, it’s okay,” Zuko insists. He crouches down and holds out his arms, and the girl immediately burrows into him and finds a way to cling on as Zuko stands. He pats her back in a way that he thinks he’s seen parents do sometimes. “It’s okay. Where’s your mom, huh?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A bolt of fear shoots down Zuko’s spine. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Had he seen Meifen on their way out of the town? How sure can they be that they got everyone out before the flood? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Meifen?” Zuko calls, pushing his way through the crowd. Meifen’s daughter continues to cling to Zuko, with her little face pushed into Zuko’s neck. “Meifen, are you here?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Zuko?” he hears from behind him, but it’s the wrong voice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen’s daughter makes an unhappy sound. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, shh,” Zuko tries, patting her back again. He’s pretty sure that if he panics, the child will sense it and panic alongside him. He means to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>it’s okay </span>
  </em>
  <span>again, thinks that maybe that’s the kind of thing one says to a child in this scenario, but Zuko isn’t sure whether or not it would be a lie. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Meifen?” Zuko asks, louder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zhi Ruo!” Zuko hears in response, and the girl in Zuko’s arms perks up. Zuko’s breath escapes his chest as the relief crashes down. “Oh, Fire Sage Zuko, thank you,” Meifen says, reaching for the girl.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zhi Ruo smiles at her mother, but continues to cling to Zuko’s neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You can go back to Meifen now,” Zuko explains. The child doesn’t budge. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen lifts a hand to her own forehead, pushing aside some of her sweaty hair. “I guess she likes you, Fire Sage,” she says. “Have you heard what the plan is?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang has finally caught up to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko turns around. “I trust everything is okay?” he asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang looks at Zuko, and then at Zhi Ruo, who is currently making an attempt at knocking Zuko’s hat from his head. Zuko tries to shift his head away from her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara and Sokka catch up with Aang. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko!” Katara greets. “I’m so glad you got everyone out in time - Sokka told us how you helped him.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zhi Ruo wins the fight for Zuko’s hat. “Please don’t drop that,” Zuko requests of her. Zhi Ruo crushes it between her arm and Zuko’s body, which is a little annoying, but technically acceptable. “It looks like the soldiers have a plan to get you all to the next town over, at least until resettlement can be established more permanently,” he explains to Meifen, and then frowns as he thinks about how much walking that will entail. It will be fine for the soldiers, but… “Aang, could we borrow Appa to take some of the residents there? Those for whom walking will be more of a difficulty.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang beams. “Of course! Appa loves to help.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Meifen responds, smiling at Zuko with one hand on her belly. “Zhi Ruo, darling - are you going with the Fire Sage instead of mama?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zhi Ruo giggles and hides her face in Zuko’s hat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not sure walking with me is going to be more fun than riding on a flying bison, you know,” Zuko explains. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You should definitely come on Appa!” Aang insists, turning his grin on Zhi Ruo. “Appa loves kids. And he flies so high up! Have you ever been that high?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Plus,” Katara adds, sounding tentative, “Zuko, aren’t you… coming with us?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“On Appa?” Zuko asks. “You should save the room for people who need it more. I’m capable of walking.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara bites her lip. She looks more unsure of herself than Zuko is used to. He wonders what happened with Jet. “I meant in general,” she explains. “Are you not coming with us anymore? To the north?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko frowns. Zhi Ruo is a comforting weight in his arms, somehow, even as she wriggles to get more comfortable. Zuko wonders if it’s because there’s technically someone between him and the other kids. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought we established that you don’t want me around,” Zuko says slowly, trying to parse out why they’re asking him to join them. “That seemed… final?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka is scowling. He hasn’t stopped scowling once since they got here, Zuko realises. “It wasn’t meant to be final,” he says. “We sent you to make camp with Appa, it wasn’t…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko finds his expression mirroring Sokka’s. “You sent me away,” he replies. “It’s unclear to me what has changed since then.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Away?” Aang asks, looking between Zuko and Sokka. “Wait, what do you mean we sent you </span>
  <em>
    <span>away?” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka closes his eyes. “The scorch marks,” he says. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you talking about?” Katara asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka keeps his eyes closed. “I found scorch marks, and I asked Jet about it.” He opens his eyes and looks at Zuko, and he looks endlessly tired. “He told me that you attacked some of his friends.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh…?” Aang says. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka scowls. “Yes, I know,” he snaps. “Of course Zuko wouldn’t attack anyone.” He lowers his head to his hands for a moment. “I did think it sounded unlikely, but then there was the whole blowing-things-up plan. I didn’t even think about how you might-- We didn’t know that’s what they were going to do. You know that, right? You know that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Honestly, Zuko,” Aang adds. “We didn’t know. I thought you were with Appa.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s frown deepens. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zhi Ruo pulls at Zuko’s topknot, and he runs a soothing hand over her back, hoping that she isn’t picking up on his tension too much. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You thought I was with Appa, but none of you actually checked?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I did,” Sokka reminds him. “I wanted to ask you about Jet, because he was weirding me out. That’s when I found the scorch marks.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It would have been a long time to be camping alone, Zuko thinks, glancing at Katara and Aang. They’re both avoiding Zuko’s eyes. Zuko knows what it means when people make truth claims and then fail to look at him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re lying.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara’s mouth pulls into a frown. “I didn’t check on you because I didn’t want to talk to you,” she explains. “I didn’t want you to come with us anymore.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Katara,” Aang says, soft, trying to calm her down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, Zuko’s right for once,” Katara responds, crossing her arms. “Jet might have been-- </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jet, </span>
  </em>
  <span>but Zuko’s right - the reason that we asked him to leave was because he doesn’t care about the war, or about anything except the Fire Nation.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen scoffs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko had kind of forgotten that she was there. He turns to look at her, wondering if she’s waiting for Zuko to hand over her daughter, only to find that she’s watching Katara with an expression hanging somewhere between amusement and annoyance. </span>
</p>
<p><span>“This</span> <span>kid?” she asks, gesturing to Zuko with her chin. “He doesn’t care about anything but the Fire Nation?” </span></p>
<p>
  <span>“Mama,” Zhi Ruo says, finally reaching out toward Meifen. Zuko shifts her on his hip, ready to hand her over so that Meifen can step away from this conversation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shh, hold on, baby,” Meifen says, not taking Zhi Ruo from Zuko. “This kid doesn’t care about anything but the Fire Nation,” she says, looking between Katara, Sokka, and Aang. “That’s interesting. So why was he knocking on doors all morning and collecting disputes between us and the soldiers?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nobody answers Meifen. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen turns to Zuko again. “Why did you insist that the soldiers had to change the way that food was distributed to ensure that the Earth Kingdom citizens' needs were guaranteed to be met?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because military occupation comes with complete responsibility for the occupied,” Zuko explains. “It’s an ethical imperative. Otherwise, we might come to temporarily assume lands in war at the expense of the residents. Or worse,” he adds, irritation welling up, “think that we can </span>
  <em>
    <span>permanently </span>
  </em>
  <span>assume lands.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh,” Meifen says with narrowed eyes. “Yes. It does sound like you don’t care about the war and only care about the Fire Nation.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko frowns, trying to follow her logic. “Ethical imperatives are true whether or not we’re at war,” he explains. “They remain true in moments of peace, too. And I hold spiritual, legal, and ethical authority over the Fire Nation and nowhere else. So yes, I suppose it doesn’t matter to me that we’re at war, and my primary concern is the Fire Nation.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meifen’s face does something strange, like she isn’t sure whether or not to laugh. “I think you might have missed the point.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t,” Sokka replies. Zuko looks over to find Sokka watching him with wide eyes. “You were helping the Earth Kingdom residents and telling the Fire Nation soldiers they had to treat them better, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko feels like he’s about to walk into a trap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” he admits. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka watches him for a long moment, and then sighs. “You’re going to have to write us a Zuko instruction scroll,” he says. “We can’t keep doing this. You don’t make any sense at all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“You </span>
  </em>
  <span>don’t make any sense,” Zuko responds. “You never explain your reasoning.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka folds his arms, and then nods. “Okay,” he says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay?” Katara asks, turning to her brother. “What does that mean?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, maybe we could all actually explain ourselves rather than assuming things,” Sokka reasons. “We all grew up differently, right? We were at the South Pole. Aang’s been in ice for a hundred years. Zuko grew up under a holy rock somewhere.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not--” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not impossible to understand you, you’re just a puzzle,” Sokka continues. “I’ll work you out.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko tilts his head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zhi Ruo gets her entire fist entangled in the base of Zuko’s topknot. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ow,” Zuko says, trying to tug his hair away from the child, who then bursts into a flurry of giggles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time Meifen frees Zuko from Zhi Ruo’s reign of terror, Katara is scowling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s heart sinks a little at her expression. But he tells himself that he never really believed that spending time with the Avatar and the Water Tribe kids was going to last long, anyway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why couldn’t you have just said all that stuff before?” Katara asks, and then her expression shifts to something worse than a scowl. Her eyebrows draw upwards, and she has that same shining, hurt expression as when Zuko accused her of theft. “Why couldn’t you just </span>
  <em>
    <span>tell</span>
  </em>
  <span> us that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s arms feel empty without Zhi Ruo, and he suddenly doesn’t know what to do with his hands. He clutches his hat, but he needs to fix his hair before he can put it back on. Everything feels awkward and off-balance. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t understand what you want from me,” he says eventually.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang smiles up at him. “Well first, let’s help everyone,” he suggests. “We can take people over on Appa. Um, maybe you can talk to people about how to resettle? And then we can keep going north, and we’ll try to remember to ask you questions when we don’t understand you, and you’ll try to remember to ask us questions when you don’t understand us?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko should say no, because Zuko should have a better plan by now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Zuko doesn’t have any plans at all. He has a goal, but no method to reach it. This path is as good as any other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine,” he relents. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Katara becomes Zuko’s shadow through the rest of the day. Zuko isn’t sure why the other children don’t want him left alone, since he’s already confirmed that he will join them on their journey north. But when Aang and Sokka take people to their destination on Appa’s back, Katara follows Zuko into his conversation with Sergeant Kichiro as they begin the long walk. She doesn’t acknowledge Sergeant Kichiro directly, but she keeps glancing at Zuko with wide eyes, and Zuko doesn’t understand what it means.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro describes the trespasses of the kids in the forest to Zuko in painstaking detail, while Zuko nods and watches the path before them. Eventually, the sergeant pauses for long enough that Zuko assumes his opinion is being requested, and he enquires: “Do you plan to assume authority over them?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro hesitates for a long time. They turn a bend, and Zuko glances back to ensure that the group seems to be holding up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he finally looks back at Sergeant Kichiro, the man is scowling. “I know what you’re going to say,” he states. “Assuming authority over them means assuming responsibility for them.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko smiles. “That does seem to be the only ethical route, should you wish to engage,” he agrees. “Though I’ll also remind you that they are all underage, and any punishment - or any means to apprehending them - would need to reflect that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They destroyed our </span>
  <em>
    <span>homes,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro points out, leading to an in-depth conversation about how the position of adulthood means that Sergeant Kichiro is unable to treat children as his peers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara’s eyes are still wide when Zuko checks on his shadow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Later, Katara pulls water from a nearby source for people to drink, and Zuko gains Aimi and Masayuki as walking companions. They’re still glowing with happiness from the wedding ceremony, regardless of the fact that their lives have been upended. It’s pleasant to walk with them, and he allows them to convince him to give an extra blessing of safety. Katara reappears during this blessing and watches him work his fire around the couple. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They get stuck at that point on the journey, as others approach for blessings. When Meifen steps forward, other Earth Kingdom residents join her. It’s an unnecessary obstacle in their walk, but Zuko feels good about lifting their spirits, and he thinks that the soldiers and residents seem less wary of one another afterwards.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara remains silent, and she remains by his side. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, their next port of call is in sight. The town’s leadership have been hard at work with Aang and Sokka to find room and resources for the residents of Gaipan, and Zuko is pleased to find that he does not need to prompt Sergeant Kichiro to display adequate gratitude. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will need to discuss the placement of the soldiers with the Fire Nation,” Sergeant Kichiro explains to the elders of the town. “It is my expectation that they will have us move to the nearest outpost, which is a few days of walking from here. But first - I want to ensure the safety and security of the Earth Kingdom residents we will need to leave behind.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The elders hesitate, and two of them frown at one another. “Do you mean to imply that they owe you something?” one asks, voice pitched low in confusion and what might be the edges of offense. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro blinks a few times, and then looks to Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Elders,” Zuko says, greeting them with a shallow bow. “I am Fire Sage Zuko of the Temple of the Avatar. I was visiting Gaipan at the time of the flood. May I be permitted to speak on Sergeant Kichiro’s behalf?” When one of the men acquiesces, Zuko explains: “The sergeant merely wishes to extend aid in resettling the Earth Kingdom residents of Gaipan. Our soldiers are capable of accompanying small groups to nearby towns and villages.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The elders look at one another again. “If… that would be what the sergeant wishes to do?” one allows. “We will of course take responsibility for the resettling ourselves, but… extra support would be appreciated.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Sergeant Kichiro says, and then looks confused by his own thanks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, everyone is looking at Zuko, and they all look equally bewildered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My companions and I do not need to take up room in your town,” Zuko states. “We can continue on our journey tonight, unless you believe you have more use for us.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro finally looks away from Zuko and toward Katara, who has been joined by her brother and Aang again. “So that’s… the Avatar?” he asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko glances over his shoulder, and Aang waves with his usual cheer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“His name is Avatar Aang,” Zuko says. “Would you like to talk with him?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro’s eyes linger on Aang, and then return to Zuko. He looks thoughtful. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re,” he starts, and then clears his throat. “I heard the Fire Lord was seeking out the Avatar to imprison him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko almost wants to laugh. “What for?” he asks. “Being the Avatar isn’t a crime.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro hums. “I suppose I don’t know,” he admits. “Working against the Fire Nation?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Believe it or not, sergeant, that’s also not a crime,” Zuko points out. “It’s only treason to work against the Fire Nation if </span>
  <em>
    <span>we </span>
  </em>
  <span>do it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that what you’re doing?” the sergeant asks. But where Zuko expects those words to be delivered with suspicion or anger, he finds none. Only curiosity is present in Sergeant Kichiro’s eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I took an oath to protect the Fire Nation, to rule ethically, and to walk in the way of Agni,” Zuko states. “I did not take an oath to obey the Fire Lord. Especially when he acts in a way that is unethical and antithetical to the way of Agni.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro watches Zuko for a moment that stretches out too long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have no argument against that,” the sergeant says eventually, voice quiet, like he’s afraid of being caught in this conversation. “But I do feel the need to warn you that talking like that will get you in trouble.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko doesn’t bother restraining his cynical smile. He offers the sergeant an appropriately shallow bow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I took no vow against causing or finding myself in trouble, Sergeant Kichiro,” he replies. “I hope our paths cross again. May I offer you a blessing?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sergeant Kichiro agrees, and then steps forward as Zuko winds his fire about Kichiro’s body.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“May the paths you follow be ones of justice, righteousness, and honour. May those who follow you find themselves bettered by you, and may you find yourself bettered by them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“May it be so,” Sergeant Kichiro responds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko calls his fire back to his own hands and lets them fall from position. He goes to leave, only to be stopped by Sergeant Kichiro calling his name.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t presume to bless you,” Sergeant Kichiro says, though Zuko privately thinks it would be nice to be blessed. “But whatever it is you’re looking for… I hope you find it.” He wavers before adding: “Great Teacher.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko smiles. “May it be so,” he responds, and then turns to leave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They make camp next to a river. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a good space to camp. They are hidden by trees, and the river will give them an opportunity to bathe in the morning. Perhaps Katara and Aang will be inclined to practice waterbending before they continue their journey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko lights a campfire as it begins to get dark, and then they share out some of the food the elders pushed into their hands. Zuko is bone tired from a day of drama and walking, and beginning to feel the warm effects of the fire and the food, and so it takes him a long while to realise that the other children are watching him in silence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Zuko asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang puts his bowl on the ground in front of him. “You said, um,” he starts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka points a chopstick at Zuko. “Tell us about the Fire Nation and the whole balance thing. We’ll listen.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What Zuko wants to do is tug his hair out of its topknot and brush out the tangles, curl up close to the fire, and sleep until the sunrise calls to him. Instead, he sighs, trying to work out how to paint the picture of his mission in a way that won’t cause the other children to ask him to leave again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stands from his position by the fire and collects small, flat stones by the river. After a moment of hesitation, he pulls the box that contains his glasses from the pocket of his robes, and then sits in front of the other children and begins to build. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He places the larger flat stones one atop the other, starting with the widest stone and finishing with the smallest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Fire Nation was built with a system of balance in its heart,” Zuko explains, and very carefully places his glasses case on his stack of flat stones. The box wobbles for a moment, but then slowly rights itself. “The Fire Sages who built our nation looked at the wartorn islands and declared that to truly unify, we needed both a heart and a head. Any political decisions needed to be ethically and spiritually proper. Therefore, the leader of the nation was also the leader of the spiritual order: the High Sage.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s what the Air Nomads believed, too,” Aang points out, leaning closer to Zuko. “That there shouldn’t be a divide between spiritual leaders and political leaders.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko picks up two smaller pebbles and weighs them in his hands. Then he places one on each side of the rectangular box. It remains balanced on the tower of stones. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think the Fire Nation was a lot more like the Air Nomads in its birth,” he says to Aang. “But the Fire Islands were difficult to control. There were so many warring factions. It seemed that the only way forward was to unify under a central power, and that worked… for a while. But then the domain of the Fire Lord and the domain of the Fire Sages began to shift.” He places two more pebbles on each side of the rectangular box. It wobbles, and Zuko holds his breath until the box retains its balance. “And so we required an intricate system to ensure that we didn’t unbalance. The relationship between the palace and the temple was born.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko places two more pebbles. The box tilts dangerously, but with a careful nudge, it balances out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There would be a Fire Lord in charge of the palace, and a High Sage in charge of the temple. And they were to work together. The Fire Lord could be interested mostly in the political, but he would have the High Sage to bring him to the side of the just and the true. And the High Sage could have his or her head in books, in the world of spirits, away from the reality of political manoeuvring - but they would have the Fire Sage to bring them back to the facts on the ground. Together, the Fire Nation would be ruled with balance. Everyone is accountable to someone else, and we are all accountable to Agni.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It doesn’t sound like a bad system,” Sokka responds, frowning. “But then Sozin happened?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How did he get away with it?” Katara asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko begins a second, smaller stack of stones, close to the first.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Slowly,” Zuko responds. “There’s this myth about badgerfrogs, that if you put them in a pot of water and heat it up gradually enough, they won’t notice that they’re dying until it’s too late.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s awful!” Aang protests.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s also not true,” Zuko assures him. “Animals are smarter than we’re inclined to give them credit for. It makes people feel smarter to look down on them.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko eyes the height of the second stack of stones, and then removes the top one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But even if it’s not true about badgerfrogs, it’s true about what happens if you enact change slowly enough,” Zuko explains. “Fire Lord Sozin wasn’t the first Fire Lord who took more power than he should have. But until then, it always got corrected after a time. But the precedent had been set, and Sozin knew how to use the rules so that the sages couldn’t protest. He used rules about decision-making in wartime, even though he started the war, which is…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s hand shakes so much that he almost knocks over the second tower.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wrong,” Katara offers him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wrong,” Zuko agrees. “Logically and ethically. And he syphoned off enough power that the sages felt unable to fight back. Because they’re frightened.” Zuko looks around himself and picks up one of his chopsticks. “They’re frightened that without the grace of the Fire Lord, they won’t exist anymore. That the palace will crush the temple entirely.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re saying ‘they’,” Sokka points out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko shrugs. He takes the chopstick and balances it on the second tower of stones. The very edge of the chopstick fits just under the edge of the glasses case. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Fire Sages know that this is wrong,” Zuko goes on. “No council in the last hundred years has declared itself properly, because they can’t. Once they do that, they’ll be forced to either admit that the system is failing, or they will be forced to state untruth in council and undermine our entire reason for existing. So they all know this, and they’re doing nothing about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko draws his hands back to himself, because he doesn’t trust himself not to unbalance what he has built.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To one side, the glasses case sits on the taller tower of stones, pebbles balanced on both ends. Beside it stands the smaller tower, a chopstick resting at the top, barely touching the glasses case. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“When we were with Jet, you said it was self-centred,” Zuko remembers, looking at the towers. “But it’s not just that I want the High Sage to have more power. There’s a reason that the system was built this way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You think Sozin’s war wouldn’t have happened if the temple was working properly,” Aang says. Zuko looks up to him, and catches something much sadder in his eyes than Zuko is used to seeing in him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang lived through the beginning of this, and then his entire nation was torn away. This isn’t just a tower of stones to Aang. It’s his whole life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s our purpose,” Zuko says. “We serve Agni by serving the Fire Nation. Currently, we’re doing neither of those things.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s the other tower?” Sokka asks, motioning to the smaller tower and its chopstick. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko purses his lips for a moment. “It’s more complicated than this, of course,” he says. “I’m sure every nation has its own version of this, too. But… the world was also built with a balance. Four nations. Four elements. What happens when one nation unbalances?” Zuko asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It unbalances the whole world,” Sokka responds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko shifts a single pebble from one side of the glasses case to the other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It tips over and catches the chopstick. Both structures tumble to the ground. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There's a hush for a long moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I get it,” Sokka says, his voice quiet. “If we want the war to end, it isn’t enough to beat the Fire Nation. The whole world is still out of balance.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s frown deepens. “The whole world will always be out of balance now,” he says, glancing at Aang, who’s sitting quietly with his head tipped downwards. “We can’t fix everything. But we can make a new balance.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But to do that, you have to fix the heart of the Fire Nation,” Sokka says. “That’s your mission. Right?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko fights against a wave of tiredness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The problem is that I can’t fix it, not alone,” Zuko says. “I haven’t figured out what my next steps are. It’s been three years, and I still haven’t figured it out.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s been three years?” Katara asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve been looking for a way out of this situation for three years,” Zuko explains. “I’ve read everything I could get my hands on, I’ve tried to draft plans, but - I always end up back here.” Zuko looks at the pile of stones in front of him. “Talking about the problem got me banished to Crescent Island. And I don’t actually have the power to do anything about it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko has worked his way through multiple ideas. At one point, at age fourteen and sick to death of Crescent Island, Zuko got halfway through a plan to draft an essay on what was wrong with the Fire Nation and have it sent to the palace and every temple in the world. But he knows it won’t work. There was once a time that Zuko thought that being right was enough weight behind an argument, but he knows better now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” Katara says, sounding decisive. “Then we’ll figure that out together.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Yeah,” Aang agrees. His smile is blinding. “That’s the difference, right? You didn’t have us before.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka nods. “So you’ll help us get rid of the Fire Lord, and we’ll help you rebalance the temple and the palace,” he concludes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Worry simmers in Zuko’s stomach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t ‘get rid of’ the Fire Lord,” Zuko responds. “That’s treason.” At the confused silence, Zuko explains: “Treason is a kind of heresy.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka seems to deflate before him. “Just when I think I’m understanding you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>kill</span>
  </em>
  <span> the Fire Lord,” Aang assures him. “I’m not going to kill anyone! We just need to stop him?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You mean to dethrone Fire Lord Ozai,” Zuko notes. “That’s still treason.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Sokka says, and he shifts to sit closer to Zuko. He’s frowning at Zuko, but it seems to be in concentration rather than displeasure. “Come on, there has to be a logical solution to this, right? What happens when the Fire Lord goes mad? Goes crazy and tries to take over the world? What are the Fire Sages supposed to do?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko shakes his head. “The Fire Sages don’t do anything. The High Sage does,” he responds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“See? You could have said that before, instead of ‘no’,” Sokka points out. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“You </span>
  </em>
  <span>can’t dethrone the Fire Lord, but there’s a system in place for it to happen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nods, and then taps his fingers against his knees. “Except High Sage Kenji doesn’t agree with us on this,” Zuko points out. “I’ve talked to him about it before. Three years ago.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Three years is a long time,” Sokka insists. “Maybe he’s changed his mind. And if he hasn’t… maybe it’s time to start convincing him to.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>(“And if you can’t convince the High Sage,” Sokka says much later, when the other kids are sleeping, “how do we make </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> the High Sage?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s laughter bubbles out of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going to be lucky if I’m not accused of high heresy and put to death.” Zuko turns over to look up at the stars. “I’m not aiming for much higher than that.”)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Things aren’t simpler after their discussion over the balancing stones, but they are less volatile. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They continue to travel. Zuko doesn’t come into towns with the others, because he isn’t going to dress himself in Earth Kingdom clothing again. But it’s okay. Zuko’s time is taken up by finishing his counsel letters and writing an explanation to High Sage Kenji. He doesn’t have high hopes that the letter won’t be burned upon arrival, but at this moment, Zuko doesn’t know what else to try. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Days after the flood, Aang ambushes Zuko with a request. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was thinking maybe you could teach me about firebending,” Aang suggests with a wide smile. “I even got up early, since firebenders rise with the sun!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang looks so proud that Zuko doesn’t point out that Aang missed sunrise and Zuko has been awake long enough to complete his morning offerings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko offers a hesitant smile. “That will be fine,” he allows, because talking to Aang about firebending is his primary function in this group. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They find a space far enough away that it won’t bother the Water Tribe siblings, who are still sleeping steadily in the morning sun. Instead, Zuko builds a small fire between the pair of them in lieu of a candle and talks Aang through connecting to the flame via meditation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko closes his eyes and finds his connection to the flame, and then focuses on what Aang taught him: deconstructing the idea of a boundary between himself and the flame. He meditates on the nonexistent line between his skin and the air, the air and the fire. It takes a long time, and many layers of letting go, but it’s worth it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a long while, Zuko opens his eyes. He feels a smile blooming on his face as he comes back to the world…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Only to find that Aang is gone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s breath catches for a moment as the smile slips from his lips. Humiliation unfurls in his chest and threatens to turn into hurt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There’s nothing to be hurt about, Zuko reminds himself. He folds his hands in his lap. There’s nothing to be rejected from here, because he and Aang have not developed any kind of partnership. The point of this exercise was for Zuko to help Aang to meditate over a flame; the point was not to meditate </span>
  <em>
    <span>together. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The natural vulnerability in a moment of meditation is just a natural consequence, Zuko reminds himself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It doesn’t help. Zuko feels his face burn as he thinks about Aang deciding he wasn’t worth staying with. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(In all his meditation training, nobody has ever left him before. Not even Fire Sage Kyo, who never liked Zuko. It’s the kind of insult that is below a Fire Sage to make. Zuko tells himself it’s the kind of insult that is below a Fire Sage to feel, too.) </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko is still trying to collect himself when Katara finds him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You missed breakfast,” Katara states. Zuko assumes he’s being scolded for failing to uphold the internal rules of this group, up until the moment that Katara presses a bowl into Zuko’s hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” Zuko says, off-balance with confusion. “Thank you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara frowns at him. “You shouldn’t skip meals,” she insists. “We don’t always know where the next meal is coming from.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko should be more grateful, he realises, glancing down at the meal Katara has prepared. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” he says as sincerely as he can muster. “I appreciate the efforts you go to.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara blinks, and now she looks like the one who’s off-balance. And then her expression blossoms into a smile. “We need to go into town today,” Katara tells him, her voice softened around the edges. “Would you like to come with us?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko takes a bite of his breakfast to stall for time as he thinks. He’s done writing his counsel letters and his note to High Sage Kenji, and thus would have little to do when staying behind. But… “I will not dress in Earth Kingdom clothing again,” Zuko states. “It isn’t honest.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” Katara agrees. “But you can still come?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do need to send my letters to Caldera,” Zuko allows. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re done writing?” Katara finally sits across from Zuko, in the space that Aang abandoned. “You said you were going to write an explanation to the High Sage, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“High Sage Kenji hasn’t taken my correspondence in years,” Zuko explains. “I don’t hold high hopes for him even reading this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I read it?” Katara asks. Zuko sees no reason to deny her, so he passes over his letter to High Sage Kenji, and eats his breakfast as Katara reads. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara appears to get to the end of the letter, but she just blinks for a moment before returning to the beginning and reading it again. On her third pass through, Zuko starts to get worried.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is something wrong?” Zuko asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara presses her lips together and doesn’t respond for a long moment, and Zuko begins to worry that he’s offended her. This is the fifth draft of this letter, and Zuko has planned it out in his head for three years. Every word is carefully chosen in that letter, every irrefutable logical argument, every call to ethics and the way of Agni. But Katara is staring silently at the words of the page, eyes no longer tracking words but rather just staring through them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She puts the letter down onto the grass in front of her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did Sokka tell you about what happened to our mother?” Katara asks, her voice hushed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko shakes his head. He can recall Katara mentioning that her mother protected her from the Fire Nation, but nothing more. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko waits, and then Katara continues: “The Fire Nation came for me,” she explains. “They were taking all our benders away. To weaken us. And to ensure that if the next Avatar was born in the Southern Water Tribe…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anger bursts in Zuko. “They should not have done that,” he grits out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara nods. “Mom told them she was the bender, not me. And they killed her for it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko closes his eyes. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say now, but he knows that an apology won’t even be a beginning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Fire Nation that you believe in,” Katara continues, laying a hand over Zuko’s letter. “The way that it’s supposed to be. Do you really believe that it’s possible to get there?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko opens his eyes again to find Katara watching him with an intensity that almost makes him want to shrink back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Zuko responds. “But I think we owe it to the world and to ourselves to try.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara nods. “The High Sage would be stupid not to listen to you,” she says, laying a hand onto Zuko’s letter. “Write more copies of this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?” Zuko asks as Katara stands up again, brushing off her clothing. “Do you think I should keep sending them to him until he responds?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara looks down at the letter again. “I don’t know,” she admits. “But I don’t think you should give it away. Trust me on this one,” she requests, and then turns to leave. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko has a lot of thoughts about trust. He trusts in the validity of the legal system and its relationship with ethics. He trusts in the original plan for the Fire Nation. Zuko trusts in the will of Agni and the sanctity of the Fire Scriptures. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But every time Zuko has tried to trust in people, it has… not gone well for him. Zuko trusted the people who were once his family, and was given away. Zuko trusted the High Sage and found that nobody was looking to fix the broken heart of the Fire Nation. Zuko even trusted that the Fire Lord would listen to him, would allow him to speak his mind even if nothing would come of it, and was forced to bow in submission.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Katara says “trust me”, the first thing that Zuko feels is fear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko remembers the mixture of curiosity and suspicion in Meifen’s eyes as she asked: “Has trusting people just because they tell you to ever worked out for you?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Zuko had requested that she try trusting a Fire Nation soldier, a soldier who gave Meifen no reason to trust her other than wanting to try to be trustworthy. Is that so different to what this group of children are asking now?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And so Zuko opens a spare leaf of paper and tries to parse out the reasons to trust and mistrust the children he has found himself temporarily allied with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s an exercise he’s used before to chart his way through a legal argument. Zuko draws a line down the paper and begins with his arguments against the suggestion of trust, and then returns to the other side to present counterarguments to each point. His expectation is that he will end up with a balanced sheet, with arguments for and against the concept of trust equally weighted. That is how it feels in his mind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When it’s down on paper, the reasons are unbalanced. Zuko has more reasons to mistrust this group than he has to trust them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some of his arguments have decent counterbalances. </span>
  <em>
    <span>They sent me away before to my death </span>
  </em>
  <span>is counterweighted with </span>
  <em>
    <span>they didn’t know it was to my death; they apologised. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some have weak counterbalances that Zuko cannot honestly claim weigh up. </span>
  <em>
    <span>They only want me around to teach firebending, which I cannot do </span>
  </em>
  <span>has a measly </span>
  <em>
    <span>I can teach </span>
  </em>
  <span class="u">
    <em>
      <span>about</span>
    </em>
  </span>
  <em>
    <span> firebending. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And there are two points that Zuko cannot even begin to present contradictions for: </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Aang does not respect me. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Everyone who has ever claimed to care has sent me away. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko hovers on the last point, considering writing ‘the past does not dictate the future’, but what kind of logician could he claim to be if he ignored all previous evidence because of what he would like to be true?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, Zuko gives up on this exercise and returns the paper to the pocket of his robes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko follows the others into the nearest town to collect supplies and find someone to deliver Zuko’s letters. The sky is shifting abruptly from the clear blue of the morning, with a thick layer of clouds approaching from the north. Zuko is watching the sky when two things happen at once.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>First, Katara goes for her money purse only to realise that it’s empty. She sighs, frustrated, and begins to put the fruits and vegetables back while Sokka complains about how they have no food.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(“We’re out here trying to save the world - surely we should be paid for that!”) </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And second, shouting starts from the midst of the crowd.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko is drawn to the commotion. What he finds is a teenage girl almost crying as she follows a large man through the crowd.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please!” she asks, touching his arm and then flinching when the man tries to elbow her out of the way. “Please, I didn’t notice you had it!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tough luck, kid,” the man responds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko holds his head high, and regrets not wearing his hat on this trip. It feels wrong to step into a situation like this with his hair loose around his shoulders. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse me,” Zuko interrupts, stepping into the man’s path. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse yourself,” the man grumbles, trying to pass him. Zuko steps neatly into his path, keeping his head high. “What’s your problem?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You and the girl have a dispute,” Zuko points out. “You require legal counsel.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man blinks at him. “And who are you, exactly?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am Fire Sage Zuko of the Temple of the Avatar,” Zuko introduces himself with the sign of the flame. “I will hear your dispute.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The girl bows deeply to Zuko, gratitude spreading on her features. “I sold some items to this man, but I didn’t realise he had this hairpin in his hand,” she explains. “The hairpin is the most valuable thing in my family’s stall. I didn’t charge him for it. It was an accident.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nods and then turns to the man. “Do you dispute this sequence of events?” he asks. “Or do you have details to add?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s mine now,” the man responds. “It’s not my fault she forgot to charge for it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko blinks. “This is your defence?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man glares. “I don’t know what authority you think you have, kid, but I don’t see why I should care.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko tilts his head as he watches the man. In all of his years of giving counsel, Zuko has seen many attempts at weaseling out of rulings. Zuko has been bribed, blackmailed, and threatened - on one memorable occasion, all in the same conversation. With the Earth Kingdom residents of Gaipan, there was mistrust and an assumption that everything would go back to normal once he left the town. But he has never had his right to offer counsel questioned before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is your name?” Zuko requests. “If you don’t consider my counsel or rulings sufficient, I will gladly take them to a higher Earth Kingdom authority. I am a Fire Sage; they will take a meeting with me if I request it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t have to give you my name,” the man snarls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“His name is Xiaowen,” a man from the crowd offers. It’s only now that Zuko recognises that the crowd has slowed around them, and they have gained an audience. “He lives at the northern edge of town.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Xiaowen from the northern edge of town,” Zuko repeats, holding his head high. “And your name?” he asks, looking toward the girl. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jinghua,” she says. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nods. “Jinghua did not see the hairpin in your hand, Xiaowen from the northern edge of town. Perhaps you also failed to realise the error. But the item belonged to Jinghua and her family when it was at the stall, and no exchange of ownership took place, so it still belongs to her. If you attempt to leave with the item, this is an act of theft.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Jinghua says, bowing to Zuko again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You need not bow,” he tells her. “I am simply stating a fact. Xiaowen, you will return the item, or you will be called to court with the Earth Kingdom authorities in the morning. This is your decision, but I will warn you: most legal systems include a penalty alongside return of stolen items. Since you are apparently only learning now that this would be theft, I will not require a penalty.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Xiaowen glares deeply at Zuko. Zuko clasps his hands together as he waits for a decision to be made.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, Xiaowen scoffs and thrusts the hairpin toward Zuko. Zuko takes it with careful fingers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is the correct decision,” he tells Xiaowen. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“You </span>
  </em>
  <span>may bow.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Xiaowen scoffs again. “I’d sooner spit in your face,” he responds and storms off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko holds out the pin to Jinghua. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua steps around the hairpin and Zuko’s outstretched hand, and throws her arms around Zuko’s shoulders. Startled, Zuko goes to take a step back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you!” Jinghua all but shouts into Zuko’s ear. “Thank you, thank you. I was so scared - my parents would be furious with me, I told them I could handle running things, but I was wrong. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>cannot</span>
  </em>
  <span> handle it. Thank you!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um,” Zuko says, all of his muscles tense as he waits for Jinghua to let go. “You are welcome, but you don’t need to thank me. It is simply my station.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua finally steps away and wipes the tears from her face. “I must repay you,” she insists as she finally takes the intricate pin from Zuko. “I have money. Come with me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will not accept payment,” Zuko insists.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um, yes he </span>
  <em>
    <span>will</span>
  </em>
  <span> accept payment,” Sokka insists, appearing from nowhere. He drapes his arm around Zuko’s shoulders, and Zuko feels himself relaxing into it before he can question why. When Zuko looks over at Sokka, it’s to find a strange expression on Sokka’s face: he’s smiling, and his eyes are kind of intense as he looks back at Zuko. “That was something else. Did you see that guy’s face?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko almost goes to smile back automatically, and then recalls what they’re discussing. “I do not give counsel for payment,” Zuko insists as firmly as he can. “That is the road to corruption.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s really honourable and all, Zuko, but if I may offer a counterargument: hunger is the road to death.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko narrows his eyes at Sokka, whose face is way too close, and then hears Jinghua giggle. When he looks over, Jinghua is hiding her smile behind her hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, if you won’t accept payment, perhaps you’ll accept dinner?” she suggests. And then thunder calls in the distance, and they all look up to the dark clouds rolling in. “Oh, but I suppose you’ll want to go to where you’re staying to wait out the storm.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko shrugs. “We’ll need to find a cave,” he says to Sokka. “It looks like we don’t have much time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A cave?” Jinghua asks, aghast. “Oh no, that won’t do. Come and stay with my family. We’ll give you dinner and a place to sleep until the storm passes.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We can’t ask that of you,” Zuko replies.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko!” Sokka hisses. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua smiles again, but this time it looks more affectionate than amused. “You’re a strange thing, aren’t you? My brothers are off to war - we have plenty of room in the house.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka’s arm tightens around Zuko’s shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There are four of us,” Zuko informs her, ignoring Sokka. “And a sky bison.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua looks thoughtful. “Give me one moment,” she requests. “My neighbours are around here somewhere. They have a barn for your animal. And I can’t promise everyone a bed to themselves, but we can handle four guests. Please consider it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka looks over at Zuko with wide, pleading eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko feels his resolve crumbling. “As long as it isn’t payment,” he says eventually. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko knows that something is wrong the moment they turn to the path before Jinghua’s house. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua has gone ahead of them to warn her family, after having obtained permission from her neighbours to use the barn for Appa. But the moment Zuko sees Jinghua, he sees that she’s drawn in on herself again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua rushes forward, and Zuko leaves the others behind him to meet her halfway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is everyone well?” Zuko asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua’s eyebrows draw in. “I’m so sorry, Fire Sage Zuko,” she says. “My parents-- My father, really. It’s…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looks beyond her to what must be Jinghua’s parents and grandmother, hovering by the doorway. “They don’t want visitors?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They’re grateful,” Jinghua insists. “They would be quite happy to have you all. But…” She trails off, looking at Zuko with wide eyes as if willing him to understand without waiting for her to make the statement. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are multiple reasons that their group could be unsavoury. They are culturally mixed. Aang is the Avatar. They’re tracking in mud from living on the soil. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I am Fire Nation,” Zuko concludes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua nods, looking down. “I told them what you did, but… Please understand. Both of my brothers are away at war because of the Fire Nation.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” Zuko replies. Sokka had warned him, back when he had insisted that Zuko wear Earth Kingdom clothing. Zuko is glad that he isn’t disguised this time. This could be a lot worse if they had already invited Zuko into their home, like with Jet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko glances over his shoulder. The others have almost caught up with them, and the storm is coming in fast. They might not have time to find alternative shelter before it hits. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Will you let the others stay?” Zuko asks. “I’ll stay with Appa.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“With… In the barn?” Jinghua asks with horror dawning on her face. “I can’t let you do that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I won’t set anything on fire,” Zuko insists. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jingua frowns, and her eyes are still wide. She looks offended. “That is </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> what I meant,” she says. “I can’t… What kind of person would allow someone to stay in the barn through the storm?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looks over his shoulder again. They’re running out of time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s better that some of us have shelter,” he insists. “And if the barn is good enough for Appa, why wouldn’t it be good enough for me?” Jinghua continues to look unconvinced. “I have not asked much of you,” Zuko states, pushing down his guilt at using this kind of language with her. “But I do ask that you allow me this, and that you do not mention it to my allies.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Jinghua looks surprised. “But,” she starts, and then hesitates. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The others catch up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jinghua!” Sokka greets, like it’s been any significant amount of time since Jinghua ran ahead. He grins at Jinghua, and discomfort simmers in Zuko’s stomach. “Is everything okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A small change of plans,” Zuko informs the others. “You’ll stay with Jinghua. I will be sheltered at the grace of their neighbours.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Katara asks. “Why are we splitting up?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a direct enough question. Zuko pauses for a moment as he collects his thoughts, and then answers: “There is some discomfort around my lineage. It’s no matter - I have alternative shelter.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll make sure everything is okay with that,” Jinghua insists. Zuko tenses as he waits for her to say something else, but she just looks up at Appa. “We can take your sky bison with us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka folds his arms and frowns over at Jinghua’s family. “Maybe I should stay with Zuko,” he suggests.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s no need,” Zuko insists. “Jinghua’s family have room for you, and… you did say this would happen.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I said what would happen?” Sokka asks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That people would be uncomfortable with me being from the Fire Nation,” Zuko replies. “I prefer it this way to what happened with Jet. But these are the natural consequences of my decision to enter an Earth Kingdom town as a Fire Nation sage - just like you warned me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka doesn’t look happy. He turns his face toward Katara, as if awaiting her judgment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara shrugs. “I don’t like it either, but we need to get inside before the storm,” she points out. “Are you sure you’ll be okay, Zuko? The neighbours are happy to have you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We will make sure of that,” Zuko assures her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you were the one who saved Jinghua,” Aang says, wringing his hands. “It’s not fair for us to be the ones who benefit from that, is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko blinks. He doesn’t understand why they are resisting this. “I’ll be fine,” he states, and then backtracks, because surely that isn’t the issue. “This wasn’t repayment for my counsel. I will not accept payment.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re so weird,” Sokka informs Zuko, and then walks to Appa to take down one of the bags. “Enjoy the neighbours’ house!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko and Jinghua watch the others being welcomed into the house. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry about this,” Jinghua tells him. “I feel awful.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nods his head. “It’s fine, Jinghua,” he insists. “Let’s ask your neighbours for permission for me to stay with Appa.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The neighbours are no more warm to Zuko than Jinghua’s family. Zuko wonders how many people he has walked past today who have lost loved ones to his nation, and guilt crawls up his spine. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jinghua leads Appa and Zuko to the barn, and her shoulders slump.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was hoping they would invite you inside,” she admits quietly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko encourages Appa to sit. Appa starts eating the straw immediately, and Zuko smiles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s no trouble,” he says. “I will see you once the storm has passed.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Jinghua takes her leave, Zuko sits down on the straw next to Appa. It’s dark in the barn, and only going to get darker, but Zuko cannot afford to play with fire in a place this flammable. He thinks about searching Appa’s bag for food, but then remembers Katara’s acknowledgement that they were out of supplies. It’s probably not worth searching in the dark, even if there might be something left. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko sighs, feeling the cold air against his bare forearms and calves. It’s technically still too early to be time to sleep, but Zuko cannot read or write, and has nobody but Appa for conversation. And if he falls asleep now, he won’t feel the cold as the storm passes through.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Set on the idea of sleep, Zuko curls up in the straw. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then he immediately gives up on that idea as a shudder passes through his body.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, Appa,” Zuko says. “I hope you don’t mind, but only one of us is covered in thick fur.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And with that, Zuko curls into Appa’s side. Appa is warm and soft, and suddenly the whole night seems bearable. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re here,” Zuko tells Appa, reaching out to pat one of his legs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Appa responds by curling his leg around Zuko’s body. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko is warm enough to face the storm. He tucks his face into Appa’s side and waits for sleep to take him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>(Not long later, Jinghua tries to sneak Zuko a bowl of stew. Zuko sends her back immediately. The storm is about to become unbearable, and the food is stolen from her family. Jinghua looks like she might burst into tears at any moment, but she leaves.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko stands up to watch her go back to the house, checking that she makes it without hurting herself. From here, he can see light from the house, flickering like it’s coming from a fireplace. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Staying in an actual home is a novelty to this group. Zuko hopes they’re enjoying it.)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Late in the night, something wakes Zuko. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It takes him a moment to figure out what it is. He doesn’t usually wake before sunrise, but he’s shivering from the cold of the storm. The wooden walls of the barn are a decent shelter for animals with fur like Appa’s, but Zuko’s skin isn’t even completely covered by his clothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko considers searching through the bags to see if he can pull out a blanket or some more clothing, and then he realises that it isn’t the cold that has awoken him. It’s a sound. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Voices in the distance. Shouting, almost masked by the storm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Who would be outside in this?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Surely nobody would go out in this weather deliberately. It must be that someone is caught out there, Zuko realises, and stands up to move to the barn’s window. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sees flickering lights in the darkness. Fire from torches - a dozen of them, maybe. And there’s more than one voice, but the loudest of them sounds almost--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Recognisable. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko’s heart sinks. Zhao has caught up with them. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Earth I (Part III)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>High Sage Kenji was the youngest man to become High Sage in Fire Nation history. It was only by four years, but since Kenji is no longer a young man, he is approaching record length for his service, too. </p><p>In all of Kenji’s many years as High Sage, he has seen a lot. Kenji has seen cases that have spanned the entire length of the ethical arena. He has sat in war meetings and by the bedside of a deceased Fire Lord. He has officiated at royal weddings, funerals, and baby blessings. Kenji has presided over the immersion and vows of an eleven-year-old child, a concept that would have been unthinkable to his predecessors. </p><p>“It’s the middle of the night,” Fire Sage Tatsuya notes. From anyone else, it would sound like a complaint. “I expect there’s a good reason we’re meeting here.”</p><p>Kenji straightens his shoulders. “I have news,” he informs Tatsuya. “This is not yet for the ears of the other sages.” </p><p>Though he expects it won’t be long. </p><p>Tatsuya looks away from Kenji for a moment, casting his gaze over the room as if it might give him a clue. </p><p>“I am listening,” Tatsuya assures him.</p><p>Kenji thinks very carefully over his words. </p><p>“I met with the Fire Lord earlier today,” Kenji says, keeping his voice low, even though sound does not travel so well that anyone would hear him clearly from outside the closed door. Even though it is the middle of the night, and nobody in the High Temple is likely to be awake, let alone wandering the halls. </p><p>Tatsuya’s gaze sharpens. “What has happened?” he asks, voice quiet and concerned.</p><p>“Nothing yet,” Kenji replies. He takes a deep, cleansing breath. “But that is only a matter of time. I tell you this in strictest confidence.” Kenji’s inner fire licks at him. His control seems to be fading with age.</p><p>Tatsuya nods once, firmly. “Understood.” </p><p>“The Fire Lord has devised a plan,” Kenji explains. “When Sozin’s Comet joins us again this summer, the Fire Lord plans to take further control on the world.” Tatsuya draws a breath to interrupt, but Kenji does not allow it. “That’s not all. He plans to crown himself over the world.” </p><p>Tatsuya’s attempted interruption falls into nothing. He blinks widely at Kenji. </p><p>“That’s…” </p><p>Tatusya doesn’t finish his sentence. It’s probably for the best. </p><p>“He plans to call himself the Phoenix King,” Kenji explains, and turns away from Tatsuya to absent-mindedly examine the shelf closest to him. </p><p>Tatsuya’s breath goes a little odd, sharp and quick, and it takes Kenji a moment to place it as an attempt to smother laughter. When Kenji looks over at him, Tatsuya clears his throat. “My apologies.” </p><p>Their eyes stay locked for a moment. Kenji doesn’t smile, but he does understand what Tatsuya finds amusing. <em> Rising from what ashes? </em>Tatsuya’s eyes are asking, even when his mouth would not dare utter the words. </p><p>Finally, Tatsuya’s expression turns curious. “Why are we meeting here, Kenji?” </p><p>Kenji looks back to the shelf. “I don't wish to give anyone reason to talk,” he explains. </p><p>“I asked why we’re meeting <em> here, </em>not why we’re meeting at night,” Tatsuya points out. “What made you choose the Room of the Broken, and not your office?” </p><p>Kenji walks along the room away from Tatsuya, giving himself time to think. It’s a question Kenji won’t answer and Tatsuya won’t press on, because there are some things they shouldn’t say out loud. But Kenji hadn’t been thinking of Fire Sage Zuko when he told Tatsuya to meet him here. </p><p>(Kenji generally doesn’t come into this room anymore, but he also rarely needs to. He isn’t avoiding it because the room makes him think of a confused eleven-year-old glaring at a scroll, or a tenacious twelve-year-old casually untangled a centuries-old law, or a stubborn thirteen-year-old declaring that the system is broken.)</p><p>Had Kenji been thinking about Fire Sage Zuko when he decided to meet here tonight?</p><p>(Kenji knows what Zuko would have said about the Fire Lord’s plan. Or at least, he knows what Zuko would have said at thirteen years of age. Kenji has missed out on the years of growth since then, and so Zuko will live forever as a child in Kenji’s mind.)</p><p>Kenji draws a deep breath. There’s nothing to be done tonight but think. And while there are words hanging in the space between him and Fire Sage Tatsuya, neither of them will give the words voice. They are safe to think them, and safe to know the other is in agreement, as long as the words are never spoken aloud. </p><p>Kenji turns, ready to return to his bed, and his eyes catch on a glint of a blade on the shelf next to him. <em> Made in Earth Kingdom </em>is inscribed upon the blade in careful symbols. </p><p>“What kind of Earth Kingdom dagger would have the name of Agni inscribed?” Kenji asks, picking up the dagger. He turns it over, but finds no holy name; only the words: <em> Never give up without a fight.  </em></p><p>It’s a beautiful pearl-handled dagger. It’s probably fairly valuable. Why would someone leave a perfectly functional, valuable item - an item with no holy inscription, no less - in the Room of the Broken? </p><p>“That’s strange,” Tatsuya agrees, looking over at the dagger. “I don’t remember anyone dropping something here today.”</p><p>“I’ll ask the others in the morning,” Kenji replies, taking the dagger with him for safekeeping. “There’s nothing more to be done this night but rest.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Commander Zhao is fast approaching.</p><p>Zuko ducks out of sight, heart jackrabbit-fast and stuck in his throat, as he considers his options.</p><p>Fighting is not an option; Zuko cannot fight unless he’s directly attacked or defending the Fire Nation, or arguably defending his temple. There’s no way to understand protecting Jinghua’s home as permissible. And even while irritation flares in Zuko, he recognises the legitimacy of such a rule. </p><p>Zuko draws in a deep breath, calming his heart rate. He needs a plan to alert those in the house, and he needs a plan to slow Zhao down while Aang and the others figure out a way to keep everyone safe. Zuko cannot be a soldier, but he can be a messenger and a distraction, and that is exactly what he’ll do.</p><p>The darkness is complete enough that Zuko can leave the barn unnoticed. He makes his way close to the house and peers upwards, shielding his eyes from the rain. All he needs is to get someone’s attention, preferably without alerting Commander Zhao and the Fire Nation soldiers that he’s here. </p><p>Zuko finds a pebble and throws it at the shutter on a window. When nothing happens, he tries another. </p><p>“Come on,” Zuko mutters under his breath, and casts another stone. </p><p>This time, there is movement. The light of torches is growing close enough that Zuko should be visible by now. Zuko raises a hand to wave for attention, only to find the face at the window is the face of a flying lemur. </p><p>“Momo,” Zuko grumbles, and then waves Momo down. Momo chitters and flies down to join Zuko. “Listen,” Zuko says, hoping for the best. He reaches into his pockets and pulls out the first scrap of paper he finds, and the first writing tool. He scrawls a quick message and presses it to Momo’s hands. Momo blinks and tilts his head. “Aang,” Zuko says. “Aang. Take this to Aang.”</p><p>Momo tilts his head further, and then takes off back to the window.</p><p>It’s all Zuko can do to send a quick intention to Agni, a promise of extra offerings and gratitude, in the hopes that Momo will wake Aang, that Zuko’s message will be legible despite the rain, that <em> something </em> will happen. </p><p>Zhao’s voice is close. Zuko cannot stand here for long without being spotted. </p><p>Aang does not come to the window. </p><p>They’re out of time. </p><p>Zuko closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He’ll have to shout to warn everyone in Jinghua’s house, and then do his best to distract the soldiers. They’re unlikely to harm Zuko directly due to his status, but it will only take one soldier deciding to set the house alight for this to go awfully, horribly wrong. The only thing Zuko can hope for is that the flames won’t catch quickly thanks to the storm-- </p><p>Zuko stops. </p><p>They’re unlikely to harm Zuko directly. </p><p>Commander Zhao might be tempted to, but the most he has ever acted against Zuko physically was to tie him up and throw his hat to the floor. Zuko might even be safe from Zhao. </p><p>Zuko looks up at the roof, and then reaches a hand to the ridges on the wall. </p><p>How does one weaponise safety? </p><p>Zuko climbs. </p><p>The wind and rain are harsh against his skin. Zuko’s loose hair whips around his face, and his robes flare in the storm. When he’s safely on Jinghua’s roof, Zuko turns to the approaching Fire Nation soldiers and smiles. </p><p>“COMMANDER ZHAO,” Zuko shouts, hoping that his voice will wake someone in the house. “YOU WILL NOT BRING HARM TO THIS HOUSE.” </p><p>The storm is so loud, and it carries Zhao’s laughter on it. </p><p>“You can’t just die, can you?” Zhao shouts up at him. Zuko can barely see anything in the storm, just the flickering light from the torches, but he can hear Zhao’s snarl in his voice. “How are you going to stop me?”</p><p>Zuko’s hands curl into fists. </p><p>There’s a noise from beneath him. Zuko’s fists uncurl. He raises his hands into a defensive posture. </p><p>“The question is not how I plan to stop you, Commander Zhao,” Zuko insists, shivering where the awful wind whips by. “But rather: how do you plan to start?”</p><p>There’s a long moment of hesitation as Commander Zhao deliberates, and then he turns to his soldiers.</p><p>“Set the house aflame,” Zuko hears him command.</p><p>Zuko holds his breath, and holds his head high. </p><p>“Sir,” one of the soldiers responds, hesitant. “Surely we can’t-- He’s a Fire Sage.” </p><p>“And I am your commanding officer!” Zhao spits, and then turns to another soldier. “You. If you value your life, you will set the house--”</p><p>“Why don’t you do it yourself, Commander Zhao?” Zuko shouts. There’s enough movement below him that Zuko is sure the others are awake, now. He has stalled long enough. His only job now is to remain on the rooftop, to ensure that the majority of soldiers won’t dare attempt to set the house ablaze under him.</p><p>Zhao turns a snarl on Zuko.</p><p>“I should,” Zhao insists. “You’re no Fire Sage. You’re a heretic.”</p><p>“Have I been so declared by the High Temple?” Zuko asks. </p><p>Silence follows. Zuko smiles. The rain falls even harder. </p><p>“Only because they think you’re dead!” Zhao insists. He raises his hands. “They’ll thank me for getting rid of you.”</p><p>“Commander Zhao,” one of the soldiers insists, panic lacing his tone. “Harming a Fire Sage is a death sentence!” </p><p>“We’ll anger Agni,” another soldier adds. “Surely--”</p><p>“I don’t care!” Zhao all but screams. </p><p>The front door bursts open. </p><p>The fight begins.</p><p>Zuko breathes as evenly as he can, standing on the roof in the storm as the fight rages below him. He can have no part in this fight; it is not his place. Standing here is the only protection Zuko can offer, a faint circle of protection that extends no further than the building. He is useless but for the fact of his own safety. </p><p>The rain pours down. It turns to ice on the mud, and soldiers lose their footing. </p><p>This is untenable. </p><p>Zuko’s heart pounds as he watches the fight unfold. </p><p>Katara and Aang are down there, doing their best to act on the offensive, but they are far outnumbered. Jinghua’s family are not soldiers. Sokka is nowhere to be-- </p><p>“Zuko,” Sokka calls, stumbling onto the roof. </p><p>“Sokka,” Zuko greets, relieved, and helps to steady Sokka with a hand on his arm. “We need a plan.”</p><p>“That’s what I was going to say,” Sokka complains, and then turns to help Jinghua up onto the roof. </p><p>Zuko turns to her. “I am so sorry,” he apologises. “If we hadn’t come here--”</p><p>“Don’t <em> you </em> apologise to <em> me,” </em>Jinghua insists, pointing an accusing finger at Zuko. “You’re the one who was out here in the cold!”</p><p>“Guys, we don’t have time for-- What do you mean, ‘out here in the cold’?”</p><p>“A plan,” Zuko reminds Sokka. </p><p>“Right!” Sokka responds. He looks down to where Katara and Aang are fighting. “We should lead them away from Jinghua’s house,” he says.</p><p>“If we lead them away and then get away from them, they’ll just come back and punish the family,” Zuko points out. He pushes hair away from his face. It’s getting hard to see Sokka in this downpour. At this point, he’s less worried about fire catching on the house - but at some point, the storm will be over, and Commander Zhao will be angry.</p><p>“Then we need to lead them far enough away that they don’t turn back,” Sokka replies. He looks away from Zuko and Jinghua, back toward the fight, and the dull light catches on the side of his face in a way that makes him look like a man instead of a boy. “I’ve got it. Jinghua, do you know any shortcuts to the docks?”</p><p>They hit the ground running. </p><p>Zuko’s shoes aren’t made for this, and they slip in the mud. Sokka grasps Zuko’s forearm, his hand directly over Zuko’s scar, and steadies him as they run.</p><p>True to Sokka’s prediction, Aang and Katara follow without question. </p><p>Well, almost without question. When they’re running down the muddy path - aside from Aang and Momo, who are flying above the mud - Katara turns from shooting ice across the ground behind them to shout:<br/><br/>“I hope you have a plan, Sokka!”</p><p>“I always have a plan,” Sokka insists. His hand is still steady on Zuko’s arm, and it makes Zuko feel more grounded as they dart through the storm toward the docks. “Just follow my lead!”</p><p>Zuko’s breath is cold in his chest, both from the panic of running from the soldiers, and from the harsh wind and rain. There is a small part of him that is aware that he might need to slow down to create a barrier if the soldiers get too close, but between Katara and Aang, they seem to be maintaining distance. </p><p>Zuko’s feet hit the wood of the docks. </p><p>Sokka looks around wildly for a moment, and then glances back at the soldiers. </p><p>“Perfect,” Sokka notes, and then keeps running. </p><p>Appa and Jinghua appear in the distance. </p><p>“Appa!” Aang declares, speeding off ahead of them. </p><p>Sokka looks back to the soldiers, checking their distance. “We need to hang back for a few seconds,” he suggests. “Give them reason to think they can catch us.”</p><p>“Here,” Jinghua says, thrusting a bag at Zuko. “It has medicine - you shouldn’t be out in the storm like this. And some food,” she explains. “Be careful, okay?” </p><p>Sokka lets go of Zuko’s arm, but only to grab his shoulder. “Don’t you dare try to give that back to her,” he insists, and then scrambles up onto Appa’s back. “Thank you, Jinghua!” </p><p>“Be careful!” Jinghua calls back, and then looks to Zuko with wide eyes. “Good luck, Fire Sage Zuko,” she says, and then grasps Zuko in a very quick hug. “I’ll ask the spirits to guide you.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Zuko says. </p><p>Jinghua is gone by the time Zuko has climbed onto Appa. The soldiers are very close now - so close that when Appa takes off, they deem it an acceptable risk to board their ship and follow into the storm. </p><p>There is a ship following them, and an angry storm swirling on all sides. </p><p>But Jinghua and her family are safe. </p><p>Zuko finds himself beginning to relax.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The rain is falling light and steady by the time they duck into the cave. </p><p>“I’ll start a fire,” Zuko suggests, noting the way everyone else is shivering. And then he pauses, looking around the cave. “Hm.”</p><p>“If we gather some sticks, I might be able to get the moisture out of them,” Katara suggests, her eyes a little forlorn as she looks out to the rain.</p><p>“I’ve got it,” Zuko suggests, ducking back out of the cave to grab some waterlogged sticks from nearby. Between an airbender, a waterbender, and a firebender, they really should be able to start a good fire. And luckily, this cave is far enough inland that they shouldn’t have to worry about Zhao for a long while. </p><p>When Zuko returns, Aang and Sokka are already asleep. </p><p>“How,” Zuko says, startled. “They must be so cold!”</p><p>Katara hushes him. “They’re exhausted,” she explains, and Katara looks exhausted, too. They’ve flown through the night and through a storm. Appa snores loudly, which makes Sokka jump in his sleep. “Just let them sleep.”</p><p>“Of course,” Zuko agrees, handing over the wood. Katara concentrates on pulling the water out, and Zuko warms them enough to dry whatever moisture is left in them. When the sticks are dry enough, Zuko offers Katara a hesitant smile. “You should sleep, too. I’ll keep watch.”</p><p>“Don’t you need to,” Katara starts, and then breaks off into a yawn. “Okay. I’ll take the next watch.” </p><p>Katara crawls beneath wet blankets and falls asleep.</p><p>Zuko works first on lighting the fire, and then on bringing warmth to the whole cave himself. Now that he isn’t in a wooden barn, Zuko can be more creative with his firebending. Zuko can’t quite rid himself of the gnawing sensation of guilt at his lack of aid when Jinghua’s home was attacked, and using his firebending to encourage the cave to be warm and dry feels like a small comfort. </p><p>Eventually, satisfied with the state of the cave, Zuko gives extra offerings to Agni. </p><p>It’s a long time before anyone else wakes up. It’s Momo first, who comes to tuck himself under Zuko’s arm. Zuko radiates warmth toward the flying lemur, who chirrups happily and buries himself further into Zuko’s robes. </p><p>The next to awaken is Katara. </p><p>Katara barely says a word to Zuko, and moves like she could use much more sleep than her body has granted her. Zuko watches, interested, as Katara sits by Sokka and kisses him on the forehead. It’s a strange gesture that lasts a little too long, and Katara nods firmly when she pulls back and then does the same to Aang. </p><p>When she approaches Zuko, one arm reaching out toward his head, Zuko finds himself instinctively moving away.</p><p>“I’m checking your temperature,” Katara insists. “Jinghua gave us medicine. I think we should take it when we’re all awake, just in case.” </p><p>Zuko nods his understanding, which Katara apparently takes as consent. She kneels next to him and presses her mouth to his forehead, in what Zuko now recognises isn’t a kiss at all. </p><p>After a moment, Katara sighs and sits back. “You feel warm,” she explains, “but I don’t know how to tell if that’s because you’re a firebender.” </p><p>“We can all take the medicine if there’s enough,” Zuko suggests, and reaches toward the bag. There are four small vials, presumably enough for each of them, and Zuko trusts that Jinghua would have given further instructions if she didn’t intend for them to each drink one. Underneath the glass are a few packages of dried meats and something Zuko doesn’t recognise but hopes is appropriate for Aang. And underneath that--</p><p>Zuko pulls out a small pile of coins, and feels his face crumple.</p><p>“Oh, that’s great,” Katara breathes. “Thank the spirits for Jinghua. We’ll be able to-- Zuko?”</p><p>Zuko blinks, pulling himself away from the crushing weight of his own failure. “Yes?”</p><p>“Why do you look like this isn’t great?” Katara asks, quiet and concerned.</p><p>Zuko tries for a reassuring expression. Based on Katara’s frown, it doesn’t seem to work.</p><p>“Here,” Zuko says, passing her the bag. He doesn’t want anything to do with the coins. </p><p>Payment, Zuko thinks. Just like bowing to the Fire Lord, it’s something that Zuko has tried to avoid in order to fulfil his duties with honour and integrity. And it’s something that has been forced onto him. </p><p>“Are you okay?” Katara asks. </p><p>“I feel fine,” Zuko assures her. “I’ll take the medicine anyway, if that’s what you think we should do.”</p><p>“I didn’t mean--” Katara starts, and then sighs. “Okay. You should sleep, too,” she says, and then holds out one of the tiny glass vials. “Drink this first.” </p><p>There’s a text in the legal scriptures about taking medicine from peoples of other nations. The text acts as a hook between rulings about the legal status of experts from other nations, and outdated healing advice. There was a brief period of time in which Zuko was fascinated by the fact that outdated advice was codified into the writings and what that meant for the truth of the scriptures as a whole. </p><p>It comes to mind as Zuko takes hold of a vial of unknown medicine, given to him by an Earth Kingdom merchant girl, by way of a Water Tribe waterbender. </p><p><em> In times of war, </em> the text states, <em> trust only those experts who have taken vows to do no harm.  </em></p><p>Zuko hesitates. </p><p>He’s always thought that considering a whole century a ‘time of war’ has stretched the legal system to its very limits. But with the Avatar back and planning to stop the Fire Nation’s mass expansion across the world, he has little room to claim that this is a time of peace. </p><p>It’s a hook between different pieces of literature, Zuko thinks. It comes on the tail of medical advice he would never think to follow. And the next lines switch to the language of legal codification. </p><p>It’s advice, Zuko decides, not a ruling. This medicine is inadvisable. That’s all.</p><p>Zuko drinks.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>When Zuko wakes, the rain is heavier again, but the wind has slowed. </p><p>“Hey, sleepyhead,” Sokka greets with what looks like a kind of forced smile. “Ready for lunch?”</p><p>Zuko stretches. Something in his back pops, which feels amazing, so he stretches further. </p><p>“Jinghua’s medicine really hits the spot, huh?” Sokka asks. When Zuko looks over, his expression has gone soft. “I think she should just sell that as a drink.”</p><p>“That would probably be really bad for you,” Katara responds from across the fire. </p><p>“I don’t care,” Sokka replies. “I’d drink it every day.”</p><p>Zuko laughs, and Sokka grins at him. </p><p>“Can I help make lunch?” Zuko asks, shifting away from the blankets to sit nearer to the fire. Zuko holds out a hand and coaxes the flames higher. </p><p>“We’re eating what Jinghua packed for us,” Aang replies from where he’s happily munching on something green. </p><p>It’s surprisingly nice in their warm, dry corner of the world. The rain falls like sheets outside the mouth of the cave, obscuring the outside from them, but also keeping them safe from any prying eyes that might dare to come by. The children are in a surprisingly good mood for the fact that they were awoken from a night in actual beds to fight for their lives and fly through a storm. </p><p>Aang and Sokka decide to regale them with an impression of Commander Zhao, drenched and angry and trying to convince his soldiers to fight. It’s technically disrespectful to a man of significant status, but to be fair, Zuko has said more technically disrespectful things to Commander Zhao. He finds himself laughing along.</p><p>“Oh man,” Aang says, one hand on his belly from where he’s been laughing. “He was so mad that they wouldn’t just blast you off the roof.” </p><p>“I guess being a Fire Sage comes with its perks,” Sokka notes. “You might not be able to fight anyone, but it turns out we can just throw you at our enemies.”</p><p>Zuko’s smile falters. They’re talking about using Zuko as a human shield. </p><p>And it might be reasonably effective, but that’s only true until someone decides that they don’t want to follow the rules, or until the Fire Lord makes a declaration about his status. But, Zuko reasons, the Fire Lord cannot legally do that without trying to recall him back to Caldera first. Zuko has time to be a shield before that becomes a dangerous option.</p><p>“Hey,” Katara says from across the fire. She sits up straighter and throws Sokka a brief glare.  “Sokka’s kidding. We wouldn’t actually do that.”</p><p>“Yeah, it wouldn’t be very effective,” Sokka admits. “What we really need you to do is just stand there and glare at them.” </p><p>Zuko nods. “If they do decide to attack me, I could fight back at that point,” Zuko points out.</p><p>“Well, that’s the weirdest battle strategy I’ve ever heard of,” Sokka responds with a grin. “But hey, I guess most people don’t bring Fire Sages with them into battle.” </p><p>“There was a game Monk Gyatso and I used to play in which the sages could only move diagonally,” Aang comments. </p><p>Sokka snorts. “That sounds like a stupid game.”</p><p>“How were Jinghua’s family?” Zuko asks. </p><p>“They were fine,” Katara assures him. “They were hiding.” </p><p>“I can’t imagine they were very happy about deciding to have us as guests,” Sokka adds. “We were so polite! But there’s only so much that makes up for.” </p><p>“What about their neighbours?” Aang asks. “Did you tell them what was going on?”</p><p>Zuko freezes. “No,” he says, choosing his words carefully. “I didn’t see them. I assume they figured it out and hid, too.” </p><p>Aang nods, and Zuko feels his muscles slowly relaxing. </p><p>And then Sokka asks: “Wait, how come you saw what was happening so much earlier than us?”</p><p>Zuko tenses up again. “I think the light woke me,” he says, in complete honesty. “Or maybe shouting? I’m not sure.” </p><p>“Well, we’re lucky you did wake up,” Katara says, and her smile looks a little forced. Zuko frowns as he watches her, because he’d thought that earlier about Sokka, hadn’t he? That Sokka’s smile had seemed strained? “If you hadn’t, who--”</p><p>“You were outside,” Sokka interrupts. He isn’t faking a smile like his sister. Sokka isn’t smiling at all. His face looks very carefully blank. “Jinghua said you shouldn’t apologise to her because you were ‘out in the cold’.”</p><p>Aang leans forward, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Come on, Zuko wasn’t outside, Sokka,” he says. “Let’s just--”</p><p>“Nuh uh.” Sokka lifts up a hand, and Aang falls quiet. “Nope, we’re not just happily dancing around this. I want answers.”</p><p>Zuko shrinks back. “What does it matter?” he asks. “I heard Zhao before you did. It’s a good thing that I was there.”</p><p>“What?” Katara asks. “That you were <em> where?”  </em></p><p>“Oh no,” Sokka says, and something happens on his face that Zuko can’t quite follow. His brow loosens from its frown, but it doesn’t look like a good thing. “Zuko, please tell me that the neighbours invited you into the house like you <em> said they did.”  </em></p><p>Zuko narrows his eyes. “You might recall that I didn’t say that.” </p><p>Sokka’s frown comes back with a vengeance. “You <em> implied </em> it!” Sokka insists, and his voice is too loud in this small, quiet space. “You definitely said you were going to be - what was it - <em> sheltered-- </em>Oh.” And then he closes his eyes and draws a deep breath before saying: “Zuko. Were you sleeping in the barn?” </p><p>A sense of panic claws at Zuko, even as he can’t understand why. He doesn’t know why Sokka seems so offended, or what Katara’s gasp or Aang’s wide eyes are supposed to mean. </p><p>“Jinghua did ask her neighbours,” Zuko explains, “but they were unwilling to take me as a guest. Therefore, I stayed with Appa.”</p><p>“Zuko,” is all Katara says, but she sounds deeply unhappy. Maybe even angry, Zuko thinks, as he risks a glance at her. “How could you not tell us?”</p><p>And Zuko really doesn’t understand what he has done wrong. But here they are, ready to turn against him again. At least last time, Jet had been there to move the pieces on the game board, to corner Zuko into a loss. Now, as time repeats itself, Zuko has nobody else to blame. And he doesn’t even understand why this is happening.</p><p>It had been so nice up until now, in this little cave. There had been laughter and food and warmth.</p><p>But even then, Zuko notes, there had been something false about the expressions on their faces. How is Zuko always being lulled so easily into a sense of security?</p><p>“Would you like me to leave?” Zuko asks, pitching his tone as formally as he can. He doesn’t much want to walk away in the middle of a storm and the middle of nowhere. They chose this spot for its inaccessibility. Zuko learns a lesson about planning an escape route. </p><p>“What?” Sokka bursts. “What do you even--? Stop it.” He points at Zuko.</p><p>“Stop what?” Zuko asks, bewildered. </p><p>“This!” Sokka gestures at the entirety of Zuko, which is unhelpful. “Whatever this is!”</p><p>Aang reaches out to Sokka, who shrugs off his hand, but also falls silent.</p><p>“Why didn’t you <em> tell </em> us you didn’t have somewhere to stay?” Aang asks, quiet and careful.</p><p>Zuko tilts his head. “I don’t know what good could have come of that,” he states. </p><p>“You had a reason,” Katara points out. When Zuko looks over, she’s scowling at the mouth of the cave and refusing to meet Zuko’s eyes. Her arms are crossed so tightly across her chest that it looks painful. “So which was it: Did you not tell us because you were afraid we wouldn’t stay in the house without you?” She finally looks over. “Or because you were afraid we <em> would </em> stay in the house without you?”</p><p>Zuko hesitates. “I didn’t want to put you in a position to have to choose,” he explains. “The storm was coming in--” </p><p>“The storm was coming in for <em> you, </em>too,” Katara responds. </p><p>“There was no other option for me,” Zuko reasons, trying to keep calm and mostly failing. “There was another option for you, and it was an easier choice to make without having to discuss it first. It was the logical solution.” </p><p>“It wasn’t <em> fair,” </em> Katara snaps. “It’s not fair for you to make those decisions <em> for </em>us, Zuko. You didn’t give us a chance to stand up for you. How are we supposed to show you that we’re friends if you don’t give us a chance to?”</p><p>Zuko has half a response planned before Katara’s words catch up to him.</p><p>“... We’re friends?” he asks. </p><p>Katara’s scowl deepens. “I’m really mad at you,” she says, and Zuko nods. “And I’m going to hug you now.” </p><p>“... What?” Zuko asks, honestly lost. </p><p>Katara shuffles around the fire and presses herself into Zuko’s side. It’s not really a hug. It’s more like she’s mimicking Momo, burying herself into his side with her head pressed against Zuko’s shoulder. </p><p>“We’re supposed to be talking,” Katara says. “But I don’t know how to ask you questions about things you don’t tell us.” </p><p>“I’m coming, too,” Aang declares and throws his arms around Zuko from the other side. </p><p>Zuko casts a worried look to Sokka. </p><p>“Don’t look at me,” Sokka says, but it sounds lighter than before. “I don’t know what’s going on. But if you don’t start talking more, this is going to keep happening.” </p><p>Zuko pats Katara awkwardly on the back. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>(“‘Are you okay’ doesn’t mean ‘are you sick’,” Katara says after a long time. “It means <em> ‘are you okay’.”  </em></p><p>“Uh.” </p><p>“Emotionally,” Katara clarifies. </p><p>“Do we have to write you a book about how to be a person?” Sokka offers from the other side of the cave. “I know you like books.”</p><p>“I do like books,” Zuko agrees.)</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The sky clears up. Zuko might almost miss this quiet corner of the world, in which there was nothing but the four of them and Appa and Momo, and the thick sheets of rain kept them hidden from the outside. </p><p>“We should get going soon,” Sokka reasons. “We have food and money now, and we should really be heading toward the north as soon as possible to find you a master.” </p><p>Aang has picked up everything that Katara has been able to offer in waterbending practice. It won’t take him long to train with a waterbending master. But afterwards, the children will need to find an earthbending master, and then a firebending master. It’s a lot to ask Aang to train in by the summer, and that’s not factoring in the need to craft a plan against the Fire Nation. </p><p>Zuko pushes down his anxiety. </p><p>“We need to bathe and wash our clothes,” he points out, eyeing his muddy shoes. “We should look for a river nearby.”</p><p>“We don’t need to bathe,” Aang insists. “We just got washed by rain!”</p><p>Zuko blinks. “Rain and mud?” he points out. </p><p>Aang blinks back at him, looking confused by the sentiment that they need to wash, even though there’s actual dirt on his arrow. </p><p>“We did just wash a few days ago,” Katara points out, pulling at her sleeve as if she’s looking for dirt on it.</p><p>Zuko rounds on her, utterly bewildered. “Yes,” he responds, “a few <em> days </em>ago!” </p><p>“Well, how often do you think we <em> should </em> be bathing?” Sokka asks. </p><p>“Every day?” Zuko says. “At least once?” </p><p>“What?” Sokka bursts, and then gestures wildly at Zuko. “That is clearly far too much!” </p><p>Aang winces. “That would take kind of a lot of time,” he adds. </p><p>“And it can’t be <em> good </em> for you,” Sokka continues, his voice pitched high with offense. </p><p>“How would it be bad for me?” Zuko asks. </p><p>Sokka gestures again. “It would be bad for your hair or something,” he insists. </p><p>Zuko lifts a hand to his hair. It’s loose, and a little tangled from the fact that he <em> hasn’t </em> washed it since they were running through a storm, but… “What’s wrong with my hair?”</p><p>Sokka looks completely lost. “I-- Nothing is--” </p><p>Zuko runs his fingers through the length of it, tugging a little at the bottom. It’s almost to his elbows now, and yes, technically this is longer than is considered entirely proper and modest, but it’s also usually hidden beneath his hat, so nobody is supposed to care about Zuko’s hair except Zuko.</p><p>“Your hair is stupid,” Sokka eventually declares, crossing his arms.</p><p>Zuko looks back up at him, wounded. </p><p>Katara sighs. When Zuko looks over, she’s pinching the bridge of her nose. “Sokka, stop it. Zuko, your hair is fine.”</p><p>“I think your hair is very pretty, Zuko,” Aang assures him. </p><p>Zuko sighs. “Our clothes are encrusted with mud,” he points out. “My shoes are meant to be <em> red. </em>It won’t take long for us to get clean before we start moving again.” </p><p>Between the three benders, they end up making a pretty effective team for washing clothes. Zuko heats the water around them, which quietens the children’s complaints about being in a lake so soon after a storm. Katara keeps the water moving, which is helpful for scrubbing their clothing. Aang seems to be having the time of his life on drying duty. </p><p>Sokka has declared himself overseer, but Zuko isn’t convinced he can see much of anything from where he’s floating in the warm water. </p><p>It is, once again, surprisingly pleasant. But Zuko doesn’t let himself loosen the way he did in the cave. He knows that things can turn on a copper coin. So Zuko enjoys the calm, lets Katara’s laughter ring in his ears, and keeps himself braced for the inevitable. </p><p>When their clothes are clean and waiting for them on the ground, Zuko turns to washing his hair and working out the tangles. Between his hair flying loose in a storm and sleeping on it without combing first, it’s more than a little awful. </p><p>“Here,” Sokka says, reaching out toward him. Zuko freezes, unsure whether it’s appropriate, but Sokka seems to take his stillness for consent. Sokka applies soap to the worst of the tangles and then works at them gently with his fingers. “Your hair’s not close to as bad as Katara’s would get when we were younger,” he comments. </p><p>“Oh?” Katara asks from where she and Aang are practicing moving the water. “So his hair <em> isn’t </em> stupid?” </p><p>“Are you kidding? Look at this. It’s like an arctic hen’s nest.” Sokka finally reaches for Zuko’s comb and starts to comb gently at the ends of Zuko’s hair. It’s kind of nice to have someone else combing his hair, Zuko realises. It makes him feel kind of settled, like this moment isn’t about to break at any moment. </p><p>(It might be a little inappropriate. But nobody else is acting like this is strange, and Zuko understands enough to know that their cultures put value on very different things. So he lets Sokka stand too close and touch his hair, like their relationship allows much more vulnerability than it does in reality.)</p><p>Zuko looks over his shoulder, disturbing Sokka’s work a little. Sokka has his tongue caught between his teeth as he concentrates. From this close, Zuko can see the faint freckles across the bridge of his nose. He feels a rush of something like fondness.</p><p>Zuko clamps down on it, and reminds himself to be prepared for them to turn on him at any moment.</p><p>“Thank you,” Zuko says, because he’s pretty sure he’s supposed to say something.</p><p>Sokka meets his eyes, and then immediately looks back to his hair. He’s gone faintly pink, and his smile doesn’t look particularly comfortable.</p><p>“I only know how to do one hairstyle,” Sokka replies, “so I hope you like hair loopies.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>(The rain comes back, sudden and harsh, and the other children scream. But there’s not much point in scrambling for shelter out here at the lake, so they end up ducking low in the water, crowded around Zuko’s cupped hands. He does his best to keep them all warm by radiating heat into the water around them.</p><p>After a few moments of concentration, Aang pulls up his own fire. He looks over their twin flames at Zuko with a wide grin, and Zuko offers a smile in return. </p><p>There isn’t long left for the Avatar to master his three non-native elements. There’s a war on the horizon, worse than the one they’re currently living through. And if Aang doesn’t win, the world is going to be tipped so far out of balance that it might never be set right again. Simmering under these long-term anxieties is the fact that Zuko can’t trust that he will have a place with this group tomorrow, and he truly has no place in the world anymore. </p><p>But right now, there is nothing to be done about any of those things. So Zuko nods at Aang over the fire and helps him concentrate on maintaining the flames through the heavy rain.)</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko’s counsel letters have been soaked. They’re still legible, but just barely. Zuko sighs when he realises this, because if he’d thought to check his pockets once they entered the cave, the letters might have been salvageable. </p><p>They buy more paper in a town on their way north. Zuko hates purchasing the new materials, since his ability to do so is rooted in being unwillingly paid for his counsel. This fact makes him feel itchy and nauseous, but there isn’t anything to be done about it now. Returning Jinghua’s money would mean leading Commander Zhao back to her. </p><p>Zuko rewrites his letters on Appa’s back during the day, and at their makeshift campsites at night. </p><p>He’s almost done writing, letting the children wander up the shore in search of some interesting Water Tribe items they have found here in the Earth Kingdom, when they find a beached Water Tribe boat. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Bato of the Southern Water Tribe doesn’t let Zuko out of his sight when he leads them away from their campsite. </p><p>It’s early in the morning. Bato found them on a regular trip back to the boat, which Sokka had been making noises about trying to fix up the night before. In the light of day, it’s obvious that Sokka wouldn’t have been able to save the boat, and that it couldn’t have safely housed Appa without risking them all drowning. But even if it wasn’t a good idea, it was an idea that kept them here long enough for them to be found by the right person, for once.</p><p>There’s something on Bato’s face that Zuko can’t quite name. Zuko isn’t sure if it’s because he’s still in the process of waking up, or because Bato’s expression is particularly obscure, or even just because Zuko has always had trouble with facial expressions. The best Zuko can do with Bato’s sidelong glances is to assume that he is suspicious of Zuko, but it isn’t the kind of deep distrust that coloured Jet’s expression, so Zuko tries not to worry.</p><p>And then Zuko recognises where Bato is leading them, and suddenly his strange expression doesn’t seem so important anymore.</p><p>“A temple,” Zuko says, breathless. He holds out a hand to the gate, brushing his fingers over the tiny, intricate carvings. </p><p>“An abbey,” Bato corrects him. </p><p>Zuko stays at the entrance while Bato leads the children and Appa into the abbey. The courtyard is almost empty, but it’s early in the day, so Zuko doesn’t know whether this means that the sisters are all at prayer or whether this is a sparsely-populated abbey. </p><p>Zuko isn’t wearing his hat. He hasn’t worn his hat for days. It’s packed with his things on Appa’s saddle, kept safe but now feeling quite far away. Zuko usually feels that his robes distinguish him strongly enough, but he now finds himself concerned that the sisters won’t be able to tell what he is from a distance. </p><p>He shivers a little in the cool wind, and does his best to bring his fire closer to the surface to warm himself. </p><p>“Zuko!” Aang calls from within the courtyard. “Come on!”</p><p>“Ah,” one of the sisters says, pitching her voice loud enough for Zuko to hear. “I suspect your friend might be waiting for an invitation. You are most welcome here, Fire Sage.” </p><p>Zuko lets out a breath and enters into the courtyard of the abbey. When he’s an appropriate distance, he bows his head to the sisters. “I am Fire Sage Zuko of the Temple of the Avatar. I thank you for your grace in allowing me to enter.”</p><p>The oldest sister among them smiles. “Welcome to our abbey. All visitors and travellers are most welcome here. I am Mother Superior, and these are Sisters Shen Shu and Huiling.” </p><p>Zuko bows to each of them in the order in which they were introduced. He doesn’t know if that order has any meaning to Earth Kingdom religious officials, but it seems like his best bet. The sisters bow more deeply than Zuko believes is appropriate. Another cultural difference, he assumes. </p><p>“I must make preparations for your arrival,” Mother Superior notes, offering a warm smile to each of her guests. </p><p>“I’ll take them to my room,” Bato suggests. “There’s plenty of food.”</p><p>There is, indeed, plenty of food. Zuko and Aang meet with horrified eyes over bowls of stewed sea prunes. They might be the saltiest thing Zuko has ever encountered. He slowly pushes his bowl away, and Aang hides laughter behind his hand. Zuko finds himself smiling.</p><p>Bato and the Water Tribe children talk endlessly. But they seem content, so Zuko is disinclined to interrupt them.</p><p>“I haven’t given morning offerings yet,” he says to Aang, intending to excuse himself.</p><p>Zuko failed to recognise that Aang was wilting, but he notices when Aang perks up. “I’ll come with you!” he insists, suddenly intense. “Bye guys, we’re going to meditate!” </p><p>Sokka and Katara barely seem to notice them slip away. Bato looks up with a smile and raises a hand. </p><p>“That was a lot of stories,” Aang complains when they return to the courtyard. </p><p>Zuko frowns. “I thought you liked stories?”</p><p>“Yeah, but… not <em> that many </em>stories,” Aang replies, his voice a lot grumble. He’s clearly upset, but Zuko cannot figure out what is wrong.</p><p>“Offerings are not the same as meditation,” he says as they walk into the sunlight. “Firebenders usually offer fire. Non-benders focus more on words and intentions. There are actions involved.” He hesitates. “If you would rather meditate, I can be quiet.” </p><p>Aang beams at him. It’s such a quick change in mood that Zuko feels a little thrown off. “No, I want to join you! I think I can do the fire thing, too.” </p><p>Zuko hums. “I will teach you simple offerings,” he suggests. “I don’t want you to get ahead of yourself. Fire can be dangerous.” He looks around and spots Mother Superior, and begins to head in her direction. Aang is fast to follow. “Set offerings are simpler than optional offerings, too. You can even keep your robes on.” </p><p>“I can keep my what?”</p><p>“Mother Superior,” Zuko greets with a shallow bow, and then concern spikes down his spine. The sisters bowed lower to him last night; this might be a faux pas. “I apologise. I do not know the proper way to approach you.” </p><p>“This is fine, Fire Sage Zuko,” Mother Superior responds. </p><p>Zuko frowns. “Perhaps you have a book that can inform me of the proper customs of the abbey?” </p><p>Mother Superior’s mouth curls into a smile, but it doesn’t look friendly. Zuko’s concern amplifies. </p><p>“I’m afraid you’ll find us lacking for books here, sage,” she informs him. “That is the way of the Fire Sages. We pass on our teachings and record our histories in different ways.” </p><p>Zuko’s surprise at the lack of a library is quickly overshadowed by curiosity. “What ways?” he asks. “What’s better than a book?”</p><p>Mother Superior’s smile turns amused. “A very Fire Sage question, indeed,” she notes. “Did you approach me to ask about books?”</p><p>“Oh, no,” Zuko says, glancing around the abbey. “I am in need of giving morning offerings. I wanted to know where would be appropriate. Should I exit the abbey?”</p><p>“The courtyard will be fine,” Mother Superior informs him. “The sisters are quite used to alternative practices. Though, I imagine they might have never seen offerings to Agni before. I understand that you are not in need of any items for your offerings?”</p><p>Zuko nods, and then takes his leave from Mother Superior. He has the impression that she doesn’t like him very much, but she was quick to welcome him and has allowed him to give offerings in her courtyard, so Zuko reasons that it cannot be that problematic. </p><p>Zuko spends the morning teaching Aang some of the simpler motions and words for morning offerings. It makes his offerings take much longer, and ultimately causes them to be less personally meaningful, but Zuko appreciates that there is a separate meaning in the ability to lead. </p><p>(When Zuko served in the High Temple, he would sometimes be involved in leading offerings. He was never given a central role, but High Sage Kenji would often ask him to hold candles, or to lead movements. It used to make Zuko nervous to do so, because he recognised that movement was not a strength of his. But one does not say ‘no’ to a request from the High Sage, and it was a skill the sages probably assumed he would need.)</p><p>Aang doesn’t leave this time. He grins at Zuko through most of their offerings, which is a touch distracting, but they make it through to the closing blessings without an issue. </p><p>Aang bows to him when they’re done. “Thank you, Sifu Hotman!”</p><p>Zuko bows back, careful with his posture and the depth of his bow in a way that Aang isn’t. “You are always welcome to join me in offerings, Avatar Aang,” he responds. And then, when he’s done with the propriety of responding to an acknowledgement of thanks, he adds: “Sifu Hotman?” </p><p>“I thought it was more respectful than just ‘Hotman’,” Aang responds nonsensically, and then is immediately distracted by a butterfly. </p><p>Zuko blinks as he watches the Avatar. There’s a part of him that wants to find it endearing that Aang is such a child, but it’s overshadowed by the knowledge that this child might be the world’s last hope. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Nobody in the abbey requires Zuko’s presence. He would like to enquire about how long Katara and Sokka want to spend here, wasting time with their childhood friend, but he doesn’t know where they are and doesn’t think he will be welcomed if he tracks them down. And the sisters give Zuko a wide berth, so he’s not comfortable approaching them without a direct reason.</p><p>Zuko sits in the sun and writes. He finishes re-writing his counsel letters, but will need to wait to send them until he can clarify if the nuns have a method he can use. Zuko turns next to his letter to the High Sage, and begins to make copies as Katara had requested. </p><p>He loses track of time in writing. Eventually, the Water Tribe siblings turn up to drag him away for lunch. </p><p>The sisters sit in their dining hall in neat rows, and Zuko’s heart leaps at the sight. </p><p>It’s so ordered that Zuko feels a little overwhelmed with his own relief. The chaos of the previous weeks lifts from his shoulders. This is a place that Zuko understands, even if they have methods for recording information that don’t exist in books and scrolls, even if they don’t make the same offerings or have a Room of the Broken. The abbey is a place that makes sense. </p><p>Katara and Sokka are talking and laughing with Bato as they stand in line, waiting to be served their meals. Aang is trying to hang onto the threads of their conversation, but it seems to be referring to childhood stories that Aang and Zuko have no context for. </p><p>“Fire Sage Zuko,” Mother Superior greets, sweeping towards their section of the line. They’re so close to the front now that Sokka is starting to make noises about starving to death. </p><p>“Mother Superior,” Zuko responds, surprised to be singled out. </p><p>“Please step away from the line and follow me,” Mother Superior requests, though Zuko knows the sound of an order from a superior figure, even when it’s couched in polite language. </p><p>“Is Zuko in trouble already?” Sokka asks, momentarily distracted from his apparently all-encompassing hunger. He elbows Zuko in the side. “What’d you do this time, buddy?” </p><p>Zuko follows Mother Superior’s order and steps out of the line. </p><p>He expects her to lead him out of the room, perhaps to a personal office for a private conversation. Instead, she leads Zuko to sit in an empty area. “You can wait for your friends here,” she explains. “I will return momentarily.”</p><p>It takes Zuko a few moments to realise what’s happening. </p><p>(Zuko was never required to fast in the High Temple. High Sage Kenji had claimed that Zuko was too young for fasting, and required him to eat simple meals at times that it was customary for the other sages to fast from food and water. It’s the only thing that Zuko can recall that was different in his treatment than the sages with more years behind him, but High Sage Kenji insisted that the age of a body has an effect on the ability to participate in a fast. </p><p>There was no such rule on Crescent Island. Great Sage Sadao often required fasting from Zuko when he failed to uphold the standards of the temple. Great Sage Sadao insisted that fasting was spiritually corrective, and that it would help Zuko to realign himself with the will of Agni. Zuko privately thought it was similar to the kinds of punishments he was given as a child. </p><p>He resented being treated as a child to be punished by Great Sage Sadao much more than he resented being treated as a child to be protected by High Sage Kenji.)</p><p>Zuko breathes deeply. He is certain that he wasn’t that hungry just moments beforehand, and the pang of discomfort in his stomach is not real. </p><p>He spends the moments before Bato and the children join him flickering between two important points: first, that Zuko doesn’t know what he did that was so offensive he would be refused food, and second, that Zuko doesn’t know how to explain this to the others. </p><p>Bato sits opposite to Zuko with a hesitant smile. </p><p><em> I’m fasting </em>is technically accurate without requiring the further discussion of the imposition of the fast by Mother Superior, Zuko decides. And perhaps the others won’t even notice. </p><p>“And that’s why you’re not supposed to bother the otter penguins,” Bato concludes as the others sit down. Then he leans in conspiratorially to Sokka and Katara. “Though it’s never stopped me!” </p><p>The Water Tribe siblings laugh, and Aang beams at Bato. </p><p>Should Zuko make an excuse to leave? Mother Superior had claimed that she would return, but did she mean for Zuko to stay and wait for her? </p><p>“What did Superior want?” Bato asks, turning back toward Zuko. Zuko watches as Bato’s eyes flicker down to the lack of food in front of Zuko. And then Bato’s face does something Zuko isn’t expecting: his smile widens. </p><p>Zuko bristles. </p><p>“Mother Superior said she would come back soon,” Zuko offers, trying his best not to glare at Bato. </p><p>Bato lets out a pleased huff of breath. “I’m sure she will,” he says, amusement in his tone. </p><p>Zuko doesn’t like him. </p><p>Even in the Temple of the Avatar, nobody ever responded to Zuko’s enforced fasting with amusement. Zuko would come to the meal and sit in silence, and his presence was very carefully ignored. That’s what Bato is supposed to be doing. Instead, Bato seems to think that Zuko being punished is funny, and Zuko doesn’t even know what he’s being punished for. </p><p>(It’s entirely possible that Zuko has committed a grave error unknowingly. He has no understanding of the customs of this place. But it feels unlikely to Zuko that such an error would only have been stumbled upon by him, and not any of his travelling companions. And he doesn’t understand why it wouldn’t be explained to him, if that was the case. </p><p>Zuko thinks about the Earth Kingdom, and Jet’s freedom fighters, and Jinghua’s family. Maybe being Fire Nation is enough of an error.)</p><p>Katara is frowning at Zuko. Bato and Sokka have been swept up into another story, and Aang seems to be trying to follow their conversation, but Katara is silent. She reaches across and touches his bare forearm. </p><p>“Are you okay?” Katara asks, caught somewhere between concerned and protective. For a moment, Zuko allows himself to be comforted by the fact that she cares. </p><p>And then Mother Superior returns. </p><p>“Please excuse my delay,” she requests, and sits beside Zuko. “The sisters are not used to preparing food for Fire Nation guests, and required some guidance.” </p><p>She holds out a bowl toward Zuko. </p><p>It takes Zuko a long moment to realise that she intends for Zuko to eat it. He takes it from her with careful fingers and looks down to see heavily spiced fire noodles. </p><p>For a moment, Zuko is genuinely speechless. </p><p>“I-- thank you, Mother Superior,” Zuko says, and hears his own voice trembling. “This was very thoughtful.”</p><p>Mother Superior smiles warmly. “We see many travellers here, though our Fire Nation guests are rare,” she explains. “We find that most people enjoy the taste of home.”</p><p>Zuko offers thanks to Agni for the sunlight that allowed the seeds to grow and the animals to thrive, and then takes a bite of the fire noodles. </p><p>(Mother Superior is correct. They do taste of home.)</p><p>“I am grateful,” Zuko says again, because his mind has gone from the idea of punishment and hunger to this all too quickly. He feels a little emotionally dizzy with it. “Is there a way I can be of service after the meal? Perhaps I could help clean in the kitchen?” </p><p>Mother Superior watches him, thoughtfully, and then responds: “I shall consider it.”</p><p>“How’s the food?” Bato asks, leaning toward Zuko with another smile. Zuko hesitates. “I figured she was trying to locate something so spicy it’d make the rest of us cry.”</p><p>“It’s… good,” Zuko says, still feeling off-balance from the abrupt change. And then he looks down again, and adds: “It’s really good.” </p><p>“Oh come on, it can’t be <em> that </em>spicy,” Sokka insists. </p><p>“I do not suggest asking Sage Zuko if you can try some.” Bato’s tone is too deadpan for this to be anything but a challenge. </p><p>Sokka doesn’t let them see his face as he coughs, so nobody can confirm whether or not the spice has made him cry. </p><p>“Why would you eat that,” Sokka croaks out eventually, and even Mother Superior laughs.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko joins Mother Superior in the gardens after lunch. She makes him redress in loose green and brown clothing to protect his robes, and then they walk around the perimeter of the gardens while Mother Superior points to different plants and flowers. </p><p>She explains how they use them for their perfumes, and how some plants are particularly good for healing. They take those to the nearby towns to the healers, Mother Superior explains, but not for a fee. Between the different enterprises the abbey is involved with, most significantly the perfumes, they are not in need of charging for services they consider essential. </p><p>When they’re done with their walk, Mother Superior hands Zuko some tools and points him toward the other sisters. </p><p>The rest of the afternoon is physically taxing, but it is not emotionally or intellectually demanding. Zuko follows orders, and sinks his hands into the earth of the Earth Kingdom, and watches his work come to fruition. </p><p>After the third attempt at tucking long strands of hair behind his ears, Zuko gives up and ties his hair back in a knot. It’s improper and messy, but he also has dirt streaked across his face and clothing, so Zuko expects that propriety is long behind him. </p><p>When their work brings them to a flowering bush, Zuko hesitates. </p><p>“These are fire lilies,” he says, reaching forward to touch one of the flowers. </p><p>The woman who was his mother loved fire lilies, Zuko remembers. She would often keep them in vases around the palace. There were fire lilies all around the gardens of the palace in her honour. Zuko wonders if those bushes are still there, and if Princess Azula ever looks at them and remembers. </p><p>“They have a flowering season before the rains come,” Sister Shen Shu explains. “The last of them will be gone soon, but they bring some good colour to the gardens late in the year, and they’re great for oils and perfumes.” </p><p>Zuko smiles, touching the edges of the flower. </p><p>“You can pluck that one,” Sister Shen Shu suggests, falling to her knees at the soil. “It needs to go, anyway.”</p><p>Zuko blinks down at her. “Why?” he asks. </p><p>Sister Shen Shu gestures to the next bush along. “Fire lilies tend to grow outwards. They take over too much space. We need to cut this bush back, because everything else needs room, too.” </p><p>Zuko shifts on his feet, and then goes to his knees near Sister Shen Shu. </p><p>She pointed him to the parts that require trimming back, while she works at the soil. </p><p>“This is the time of year to ensure that everything has proper room,” Sister Shen Shu explains. “We have a lot of plants that grow and flower at different times of year, but most things are going to bloom soon. And everything needs room to grow.” </p><p>Zuko nods. The flower he was touching beforehand falls to the soil, and he reaches down to move it away from harm’s reach. </p><p>“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Sister Shen Shu asks, her voice quiet. </p><p>Zuko frowns over at her. “I’m doing what you’re telling me to do,” he states, even though he shouldn’t need to.</p><p>Sister Shen Shu bites her lip, and then nods. “We keep the gardens for many reasons,” she explains. “We sell the perfumes, and use them for rituals, and it’s good and honest work, to work with the soil. But it’s also because we have much to learn about being human from the earth.”</p><p>Zuko sits back on his heels and watches her. “I’m not good at metaphors,” he explains. </p><p>For some reason, it makes Sister Shen Shu smile. She ducks her head a little and continues working. “I see.” Zuko gets back to pruning the bush back as he waits for her to explain. “Plants need certain things to grow well. You learn that looking after a garden. They need light, and good soil, and room. People need that, too.” </p><p>“There’s bad soil?” Zuko asks. </p><p>“There’s soil that’s bad for growing things,” Sister Shen Shu answers. “And some plants need different kinds of soil. What’s good for the fire lilies might not be what’s good for the roses, so you might not want to plant them next to each other.” </p><p>“Oh,” Zuko says, and understands what’s happening here. Fire Sage Tatsuya used to do this sometimes, when he wanted to illustrate a point to Zuko. He would draw things out, or show him a move on a game board, or take him on a walk to watch how the people in the marketplace interacted, all in order to illustrate a matter of law. “Is this about the war?” he asks. “Are you saying that the Fire Nation is bad soil?”</p><p>Sister Shen Shu sits back and looks at Zuko. “No,” she says, careful and gentle. “I meant to comment on life. That’s all.” </p><p>Sister Shen Shu is young, Zuko realises. She isn’t as young as Zuko, but she’s much younger than her sisters. </p><p>“Did you grow up here?” Zuko asks. </p><p>Sister Shen Shu smiles at him. “I arrived here when I was a child,” she explains. “The sisters took me in and looked after me. I left for a while, but ultimately decided that I wanted to join the order.” </p><p>Zuko nods, pleased that he understands why she wants to talk about good soil for growing plants, and turns back to his work. </p><p>“Did you grow up in your abbey?” Sister Shen Shu asks.</p><p>“It was a temple,” Zuko replies. “I was given to the temple when I was eleven. I left when the Avatar returned to the world.” </p><p>Sister Shen Shu hums. “That’s very young,” she notes. “Did you choose to stay because they treated you well?” </p><p>“I stayed because it was proper,” he explains. “Taking the vows of a sage is a lifelong commitment. I left because that was proper, too.” </p><p>“You took your vows when you were eleven?” Sister Shen Shu asks. She sounds a little bewildered by this. </p><p>Zuko shrugs. “I was the youngest Fire Sage in all of history,” he says. Actually, Zuko will remain the youngest Fire Sage in all of history for over two decades, unless someone younger than him takes vows. </p><p>After a moment, Sister Shen Shu asks: “Was it good soil?” When Zuko looks up with raised eyebrows, she clarifies: “The temple you grew up in.”</p><p>Zuko thinks about the palace. He thinks about being watched from all angles at every moment, about striving constantly for a perfection he wasn’t built to reach, about burns on his arms from training. He thinks about the girl who was once his sister, rising from her first lick of flame to the preferred child almost immediately. </p><p>And then Zuko thinks about the High Temple. He thinks about Fire Sage Matsu bringing him tea in the mornings to wake him, and Fire Sage Youta quizzing him over areas of the law he was studying over mealtimes, and Fire Sage Tatsuya taking him to watch the birds fighting over birdseed so that he could explain the inherent problems in poorly planned food distribution. He thinks about High Sage Kenji, who gave him far more time than he was ever worth. </p><p>“It was good soil,” he admits, and does his best to ignore the pang of loss. He’s good at ignoring it, after three years in the Temple of the Avatar. </p><p>Sister Shen Shu offers him a warm smile. “I’m glad.” </p><p>“Zuko!” </p><p>Zuko turns his head to the entrance of the garden. His travelling companions and Bato have wandered through the gate to the gardens, Sokka at the forefront, but he seems to have stopped in his tracks halfway to Zuko. </p><p>Zuko raises a hand to wave. </p><p>“What are you…?” Sokka starts, and then seems to shake himself. “So I see you’ve decided to become a nun.” </p><p>Sister Shen Shu giggles as if Sokka has said something funny. Zuko throws her a bewildered glance.</p><p>“I am gardening,” Zuko explains.</p><p>“Yeah, I can see that, bud,” Sokka responds, closing the distance between them. “Why are you gardening?”</p><p>Zuko frowns at Sokka, and then at the others. Katara and Aang have been distracted by a small animal in the bushes. </p><p>Bato, he notices, is standing back with his arms crossed. He’s watching Zuko in a way that makes Zuko feel distinctly uncomfortable. </p><p>“They are not in need of my services as a sage here,” Zuko explains. </p><p>Sokka blinks down at him for a moment, and then kneels between him and Sister Shen Shu. “Yeah, so… you should come and hang out with us. Bato’s going to show us around. I’m sure there’s plenty of spirit mumbo-jumbo to keep you happy.” </p><p>Zuko feels thrown off-course. On the one hand, he appreciates that the others seem to have come to find him specifically to join them for something unnecessary. Zuko isn’t sure when he was last requested for anything other than utility. But on the other hand… do they not have a sense of offering their services when they are guests? </p><p>Perhaps, he reasons, this is a product of their ages. Perhaps children are typically welcomed as guests without requiring any kind of repayment. But Zuko’s only experiences are of being a prince and a sage; he has no context for what usual children experience. </p><p>“I have a task to complete,” Zuko concludes. </p><p>Sokka’s face draws in for a moment, and Zuko isn’t sure if he looks annoyed or thoughtful. But just when Zuko is starting to get nervous about whether he has misstepped, Sokka’s eyes catch on the fire lily by Zuko’s dirty knees, and Sokka’s face breaks out into a smile.</p><p>“Picking flowers?” he asks, plucking the flower from the grass. “An important task, I’m sure.”</p><p>“That’s a fire lily,” Zuko says. He goes to explain that they were the favourite of the woman who was his mother, but holds himself back. It’s unasked for information, and it might only lead to more questions that Zuko doesn’t want to summon the energy to answer. </p><p>Sokka hums, turning the lily over between his fingers, and Zuko looks over at Bato. Bato hasn’t moved once through this exchange, even though Aang is excitedly trying to show him some kind of creature he’s coaxed onto his hand. Zuko blinks and looks down, feeling vaguely threatened, and then jumps when he feels a touch to his hair.</p><p>Zuko stills and looks up at Sokka, to find him leaning forward with a look of concentration on his face. It takes him a moment to realise that Sokka is tucking the fire lily into Zuko’s hasty bun. </p><p>“There,” Sokka says after a moment, and sits back on his heels to offer Zuko a smile. Zuko finds himself smiling back automatically, even as confusion swims in his mind. </p><p>A sigh sounds from behind Sokka. “Really?” Katara asks, her voice low and unimpressed. </p><p>Sokka winces. He ducks his head a little, breaking eye contact with Zuko. “Yeah, fine, okay, I see it.” </p><p>“You see what?” Zuko asks, looking from Sokka to Katara. She’s standing with her arms folded and an eyebrow raised. </p><p>“Nothing!” Sokka insists. “Okay, we’re going to have fun now. You enjoy your… flowers. Bye, Zuko. Bye, Zuko’s friend.” </p><p>And just like that, Sokka is gone. </p><p>Zuko blinks, and then raises a hand to touch the fire lily tucked into his hair. </p><p>Sister Shen Shu hides a smile behind her hand. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>When the gardening is done, Zuko uses the excuse of his dirtied clothing to brush Appa. It seems natural, after that, to offer to sweep the courtyard - after all, half of the mess is from Appa’s fur. Once the sweeping is done in the courtyard, Zuko decides to move into the hallways of the abbey and sweep there. </p><p>It’s here that he finds his attention snagged by the carvings on the wall. He reaches up to them, tracing his fingers along figures. He looks down the hallway, to where the pictures continue, carved into the rock of the wall. </p><p>They’re telling a story, he realises. </p><p>“No books,” Zuko says under his breath, filled with awe as he follows the figures down the wall.</p><p>“Indeed,” a voice sounds from behind him. Zuko turns, feeling guilty. He had been midway through a task - but of course Mother Superior has found him in a moment of weakness. “Our earthbenders help us to preserve our stories in much sturdier ways than words in a book.” </p><p>Zuko looks back to the wall. “It’s beautiful,” he comments. </p><p>It’s like the whole abbey is a book. And while Zuko prefers libraries, and prefers the ability of one book or scroll to be rewritten and sent all over the world, he also appreciates the feeling of standing in the middle of a work of preservation. It’s sturdy, he thinks; it’s solid, much like the Earth Kingdom itself. </p><p>Mother Superior hums in agreement as she approaches him, and then she hands over an armful of items, bundled together with a cloth. Zuko has to balance the broom against the wall to receive them. </p><p>“I will show you to an appropriate bathing room,” she tells him. “We have yet to prepare bedrooms for you, so that will have to do for now.” </p><p>Zuko looks down to find soaps hiding in the bundle, and what looks like it might be hair oil. After a moment of longing, he finds himself explaining: “I cannot accept gifts.”</p><p>Mother Superior raises her eyebrows. “This is not a gift. It is merely what we offer to our guests. You are our guest, are you not?”</p><p>Zuko’s shoulder tenses and his spine straightens. “You’re unhappy with me,” he notes. </p><p>Mother Superior watches him for a long moment, and then glances to the broom Zuko has propped against the wall. He tries not to wince as he realises he’s leaned it against the wall of carvings. </p><p>“You are not here to do a job, Fire Sage Zuko,” she tells him. “Sister Shen Shu appreciated your company in the gardens earlier. But you do not need to work for your place here.” </p><p>Zuko presses his lips together for a moment, watching Mother Superior as she frowns at him. </p><p>“I don’t know how to…” he starts, and then trails off. “I always had tasks to complete in the temple. Legal advice to give, research, jobs. I’m not sure how to…”</p><p>“How to chase butterflies like the Avatar?” Mother Superior offers, with the beginnings of a smile. “Yes, I suppose you wouldn’t. Even in the palace, I imagine you lived on a tight schedule.” </p><p>Zuko releases a deep breath. “Yes,” he agrees, glad that she understands. “I don’t mean to be a… bad guest?”</p><p>“May I make a suggestion?” Mother Superior requests. When Zuko nods, she continues: “We will be leaving in the morning to work in a nearby village. You are most welcome to join us for offerings and to accompany me and the sisters. I’m sure they will find your presence quite enthralling.”</p><p>“It will be my honour,” Zuko responds with a shallow bow. “I am only unsure of our plans to leave.”</p><p>“Very well.” Mother Superior nods. “And aside from those structured moments, I request that you do not take liberties to find yourself tasks around my abbey.” </p><p>Zuko nods. “I understand.” He goes to follow Mother Superior through the hallway, eyes tracing the stories as they walk. “What are these stories?” </p><p>Mother Superior looks over at him as they walk, and then offers a smile. “There are many,” she explains. “Some are spirit tales. Some are histories. If you look carefully, the ancestors impart advice.” </p><p>Zuko listens carefully, up until his eyes land on a particular carving, high on the wall. He stops in his tracks, breath catching in his throat, as his eyes trail over a narrative of a lion turtle. </p><p>He’s read about the lion turtles, of course. They cared deeply for humanity. They taught humanity the art of bending. And then people turned against them and hunted them into extinction. Zuko thinks it’s the saddest story he’s ever read, and here it is, beautifully and painstakingly carved into the wall of an abbey. </p><p>“The lion turtles,” Mother Superior explains.</p><p>“I’m familiar with the story,” Zuko admits. At his eye level, a lion turtle attempts to disguise itself on dry land. His eyes flicker through the story. The disguise doesn’t work. “It’s awful. The lion turtles, and… the dragons, too.” Zuko closes his eyes. “And the Air Nomads.” </p><p>Mother Superior moves closer to him, and Zuko holds the bundle in his arms tighter. </p><p>“I believe none are gone from the world,” she says. “Your friend is here - the Air Nomads are not all lost to us. There are stories of dragons and lion turtles surviving, also, just like the Avatar.” Zuko looks up at her, even as the carvings call to him. “Did you know that the legends say the last of the lion turtles is a fire lion turtle?” </p><p>Zuko shakes his head, and Mother Superior leads him further up the wall, toward the corner. She gestures, and Zuko’s eyes follow the story. </p><p>It would be easier with words, Zuko thinks. He knows how to define words, even when there are multiple options. These carvings are all pictures, which leaves too much room for metaphors that might escape him. But… </p><p>“I hope it’s true,” he says, at the end of the narrative. The lion turtle with the fire markings escapes into the ocean. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Zuko thinks he might have forgotten what it feels like to be this clean. He knows he will be back to bathing in rivers again soon, and only as often as he can convince his travelling companions to bathe, so he takes the time to appreciate bathing in the abbey. </p><p>He even manages to brush oils through his hair, which feels happier than it has since he left Crescent Island. Maybe even longer than that, since he is now regularly spending time without covering it. He twists half of it up into a topknot and, in a moment of weakness, tucks Sokka’s fire lily back into it. </p><p>They take dinner in Bato’s rooms. Zuko misses the neat rows of sisters in the dining room, but he doesn’t question the decision to be alone. And when Aang makes a face at Zuko about the sea prunes, one of the sisters walks into the room with separate bowls for Aang and Zuko. </p><p>“Thank you!” Aang beams. </p><p>The sister bows. “It’s no problem, of course,” she says, and then passes Zuko his bowl. “Please let us know whether this is to your liking. I recall having guests who were Fire Sages, a long time ago - they taught me to make this dish. But it has been many years.” </p><p>Zuko glances down at the rice dish as he accepts it, and then back up. “You had Fire Sages here?” he asks. </p><p>The sister nods. “I was new to the order at the time,” she says, and the smile slips from her face. “The sister sages from the Yushui Temple passed through here, after they were attacked. We cared for the few survivors.” </p><p>Zuko’s breath catches, and he finds himself standing. “My apologies, but I do not know your name.”</p><p>“Sister Liqin,” she responds. </p><p>“Sister Liqin,” Zuko repeats, and then offers her a bow. “I thank you for coming to the aid of my sisters.” </p><p>Sister Liqin smiles and nods before taking her leave.</p><p>Zuko’s heart is beating hard in his chest as he watches her go. He calms himself with a deep breath and then takes his seat on the floor of Bato’s room. </p><p>It takes a moment for Zuko to notice the quiet. </p><p>When he looks up, it’s to see that the children are looking between Bato and Zuko with puzzlement. And it’s because Bato has an intense look about his face. His mouth is drawn downwards, and his eyes are a little wide. </p><p>“I recall the counterattack,” Bato explains slowly. “I was a boy at the time.”</p><p>Zuko looks away from Bato to the others, hoping for some help in understanding the stillness in the room, but they still look confuse. </p><p>“The counterattack?” Katara asks, gently. </p><p>Bato raises his eyebrows at Zuko, who purses his lips for a moment before turning to Katara. </p><p>“The sages of the Yushui Temple were attacked on the road by savages,” he explains. “Most did not survive. It’s a story I grew up with, as a warning for…” He hesitates, and then clears his throat. “As a warning for what might happen to a Fire Sage who leaves the temple in a time of war.”</p><p>Katara’s eyes are wide and sad. “That’s awful,” she comments. </p><p>Bato draws a loud breath, and Zuko’s heart rate picks up. When he looks back to Bato, his expression is even more drawn. He looks angry, Zuko realises. Zuko’s eyes flicker to the door. </p><p>“Savages?” Bato asks, his voice deep. </p><p>Zuko feels his eyebrows draw in. “Anyone who would attack a group of sages is a savage,” he responds. “They were innocent and peaceful.” </p><p>“Aren’t Fire Sages the backbone of Fire Nation politics?” Bato argues. “Don’t Fire Sages have to sign off on every act of war? I don’t know how innocent and peaceful that makes them.”</p><p>Zuko’s temper flares. </p><p>“There is a problem at the heart of the Fire Nation,” he bites out, trying to keep himself from glaring. “The temple and the palace are unbalanced. That does <em> not </em> excuse an attack on sages.” </p><p>Sokka clears his throat. “You said you remember the <em> counterattack,” </em>he says to Bato. </p><p>Bato nods, eyes never leaving Zuko. “The Fire Nation launched a counterattack on the Southern Water Tribe for those sages,” he states. “My father was severely injured in that battle.” </p><p>Understanding calms Zuko. </p><p>“I am sorry for your father’s injury,” he says. “If he was not one of the savages who attacked my sisters in service, he did not deserve it, and it should not have happened.”</p><p>Bato slams his hand to the ground. Zuko jumps at the sudden movement. </p><p>“Stop saying that,” Bato all but growls.</p><p>Zuko sits up straighter. He really thought he had solved this tension with the apology. He glances at the others, only to find that both Sokka and Katara seem to have frozen. Zuko realises now that he was expecting them to protect him. </p><p>(Will Zuko really never learn this lesson?)</p><p>“Um,” Aang says, his voice quiet and unsure. “Is everything okay?”</p><p>Sokka and Katara won’t meet Zuko’s eyes. Zuko’s heart thuds against his ribcage. </p><p>The door is on the other side of Bato. Zuko looks to it again, just briefly. He can’t leave without walking past Bato, but he doesn’t know for sure that this is a problem.</p><p>“I would like to take my leave,” Zuko says, as politely as he can manage. </p><p>Bato’s scowl is unmoving, but the Water Tribe children aren’t. </p><p>“No no, wait,” Katara says, her voice pitched high with worry. “Don’t leave. It’s fine, everything’s okay.” When Bato turns an incredulous frown on her, she turns to her brother. “Sokka?”</p><p>Sokka licks his lips, looking carefully between Zuko and Bato. </p><p>“Okay,” he says, slow and thoughtful. “We need to calm down and figure out what’s happening here, before it’s a whole thing.” </p><p>“Sokka,” Bato says in a firm tone, “you don’t have to put up with him talking to you like that.” </p><p>Zuko is starting to get a pressure headache from how much he’s frowning. “I didn’t talk to Sokka ‘like’ anything,” he protests, and then looks back to the door. He doesn’t think Bato will stop him from leaving. </p><p>Unexpectedly, Sokka moves to sit closer to Zuko. Zuko instinctually pulls away, but Sokka only looks thoughtful.</p><p>“Do you know why Bato is upset?” he asks. </p><p>Zuko purses his lips and glances at Aang and Katara. Katara is winding her fingers together, visibly unhappy. Aang looks as bewildered as Zuko feels, but this fact grounds Zuko, a little. </p><p>“The Fire Nation attacked the Southern Water Tribe after what happened with the sages from the Yushui Temple,” he spells out. </p><p>Sokka nods. “Okay. That’s not what Bato is upset about, though. That had nothing to do with you. Bato?”</p><p>When Zuko looks back to Bato, his face has cleared of some of the anger from before. His eyes are still narrowed, but he’s lost some of the tension from before. </p><p>“You referred to us as ‘savages’,” Bato states. </p><p>Zuko blinks. “No, I didn’t,” he replies, and then continues when Bato’s face darkens: “I referred to the people who attacked the Fire Sages as savages. I… don’t know that it was the Water Tribe who did it. Was it?” </p><p>“I do not believe so,” Bato responds. “But even if it was, I would have still been insulted.” </p><p>Zuko looks over to Aang, who is the only person who looks appropriately confused, and then back to Bato. “But why?” </p><p>Sokka loosens suddenly then, his shoulders falling in a way that speaks of relief. “You don’t know what it means,” he says. “That makes a lot more sense.” </p><p>“I can define ‘savage’,” Zuko insists, and then goes ahead and does it: “It means violent and brutal.”</p><p>Bato huffs a breath. “It’s also how Fire Nation soldiers tend to refer to us,” he says, and his voice has changed, now. It’s still a little rough, but he no longer sounds like he’s holding back from shouting. </p><p>Zuko’s frown deepens. “What? Why?” </p><p>Sokka claps Zuko on the shoulder and offers him half a smile. “How do you know so much and also not know anything?”</p><p>“They say it because our society doesn’t function like yours,” Bato explains. “They mean to say that we are uncivilised. That we’re like animals.” </p><p>Zuko’s anger flares again, but this time, it’s aimed in another direction. “They conduct raids and maintain unethical occupations and call <em> you </em> savage?” he asks. </p><p>Sokka looks back over at Bato. “See? I told you he’s all right.” </p><p>Bato stares at Zuko for a moment, and then nods. “Your father is going to be very confused,” he says to Sokka.</p><p>“Your father?” Zuko asks. </p><p>Sokka beams at him. He still has his hand on Zuko’s shoulder, which has pulled the two of them a little closer. Zuko isn’t used to being touched much, but he’s getting more familiar with it now. It feels kind of nice. </p><p>“Yeah, didn’t we tell you? Bato has been waiting for Dad to send him information on their rendezvous point.”</p><p>“We haven’t seen him in so long,” Katara comments. Her fingers are touching the hollow of her throat, where Zuko understands her mother’s necklace once sat. </p><p>Zuko finally picks up his food. “We need to be careful not to waste too much time,” he says. “Aang doesn’t have long to master the elements. We need to head north as soon as possible.”</p><p>Sokka’s hand tightens on his shoulder. When Zuko looks up, it’s to find the other children sharing a smile. </p><p>“What?” Zuko asks. </p><p>“You just admitted that we’re <em> all </em> trying to get Aang ready to fight Ozai,” Sokka points out, and then finally releases Zuko’s shoulder. His hand falls to the floor between them, and he leans back casually and grins up at Zuko. “Welcome to the team.” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Two days later, the team splits up. </p><p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fanart has been created! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! Please go and shower the artists with love.</p><p>  <a href="https://elfantasmadepoe.tumblr.com/image/642654696209825792">elfantasmadepoe has drawn a comic of bb Fire Sage Zuko being reluctant to wear the hat</a></p><p>  <a href="https://elfantasmadepoe.tumblr.com/image/642762987733712896">elfantasmadepoe has drawn Fire Sage Zuko studying in the Room of the Broken (featuring Zuko's glasses)</a></p><p>  <a href="https://a-witch-in-endor.tumblr.com/image/642770304692813824">anon has drawn a comic of 13-year-old Fire Sage Zuko standing up to the Fire Lord</a></p><p>  <a href="https://a-witch-in-endor.tumblr.com/image/643848010979278849">portraitoftheoddity has drawn a very exasperated Zuko in ill-fitting Earth Kingdom clothing</a></p><p>And behold, anon's two-part comic of the "you look stupid" scene: <a href="https://a-witch-in-endor.tumblr.com/image/644179024320528384">Part One: You're Actually Kind of Little</a> and <a href="https://a-witch-in-endor.tumblr.com/image/644179028529561600">Part Two: You Look Stupid</a></p><p>  <a href="https://a-witch-in-endor.tumblr.com/post/649719731803340800/">and here, anon has drawn what I feel is Zuko's portrait (v holy, v pretty, v nerdy)</a></p><p> </p><p>Come yell at me on tumblr <a href="https://a-witch-in-endor.tumblr.com/">here</a>!</p></blockquote><div class="children module" id="children">
  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
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        <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30633611">While Mighty Oaks: the Essays</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchofEndor/pseuds/WitchofEndor">WitchofEndor</a>
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